Building Support for Gender Equality among Young Adolescents in School

This report shares evaluation results from the 3-year (2008-2011) Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS) programme, which the International Center for Research on Women's (ICRW) implemented in Goa, Kota, and Mumbai, India, in an effort to explore the potential for school-based curricula to influence the formation of more gender-equitable attitudes and norms among adolescents. As detailed in the report, GEMS consisted of a week-long campaign and group education activities (GEA), which used participatory methodologies, such as role plays, games, debates, and discussions, to engage students in meaningful and relevant interactions and reflection about key issues of gender and violence.

The study used a quasi-experimental design to assess the outcomes of the programme on the students. During the 2008-09 academic year, Grades VI and VII students in one of the intervention arms participated in GEA and a school-based campaign. In the other intervention arm, students were only exposed to the campaign. There was no intervention in the control schools. A total of 2,035 students (1,100 girls and 935 boys) across the 3 arms completed a self-administered survey before the intervention, as well as a second survey 6 months later (1st follow up). In the next academic year (2009-10), the students now in Grade VII in the GEA+campaign arm participated in an enhanced intervention. In the other intervention arm, a second round of the campaign was mounted. A total of 754 students in Grade VII (426 girls and 328 boys) across the 3 arms completed a third survey after a 7-month intervention period (2nd follow up). The research team developed a scale for measuring students' attitudes toward gender equality. On the questionnaire, the students indicated whether they agreed, disagreed, or were not sure about 15 statements that clustered around 3 themes: Role/Privileges/Restrictions, Attributes, and Violence. Total scores ranged from a low of 0 (highly gender inequitable) to a high of 30 (highly gender equitable).

Key Findings

• While more girls than boys had high gender equality scores at baseline, only a minority of students overall were highly gender equitable.
• Physical and emotional violence is an integral part of the lives of young adolescents at school, particularly boys.
• After the first round of the intervention, there was a positive shift in students' attitudes toward gender equality - for example, the proportion of both boys and girls in the high gender equality category more than doubled in both intervention arms. Boys and girls demonstrated the greatest improvements in the gender roles/privileges/restrictions domain, which was integrated into many of the GEA discussions as well as the campaign's messages.
• The proportion of students believing that girls should be at least 18 years old at marriage increased over time in all groups, reaching nearly 100% at the 2nd follow-up survey. But in the GEA+ group, support consistently increased among both boys and girls for girls to be even older at marriage - at least 21 years. Among all students in this arm, the proportion increased from 15% at baseline to 22% at 2nd follow up. In control schools, it declined from 18% to 14% at 2nd follow up, while it remained around 10-13% in the campaign schools.
• After the second round of the intervention, more students in both intervention groups reported they would take action in response to sexual harassment - "The increase among the students from 1st to 2nd follow up was primarily driven by the girls, a promising result given that female victims are often blamed for being the cause of sexual harassment and violence which, in turn, discourages disclosure."
• Boys and girls in the GEA+ schools reported greater changes in their own behaviour than those in the campaign only schools - for example, for boys in both intervention arms, the greatest changes (reported by more than half the boys in each group) were doing more household chores, stopping the teasing of girls, and curbing the use of abusive language. For girls, the most common changes were using less abusive language, understanding boys better, and opposing gender discrimination.
• The results pertaining to students' involvement in school violence were mixed - for example, reported perpetration of physical violence by boys in the last three months went up in the GEA+ arm but decreased in the campaign arm from baseline to the 1st follow up. Among the students who participated in both rounds of the intervention, those in the GEA+ arm (boys and girls combined) reported a 4-point decrease in physical violence at the 2nd follow-up survey, while there was a 6-8 point increase in the other two arms.
• Overall, students in GEA+ schools were more likely to have high gender equality scores, support a higher age at marriage (21+ years) and higher education for girls, and oppose partner violence.

Recommendations include:

• "Include and invest in group education activities as part of efforts by schools and educational institutions to change gender norms. Group education activities provide platforms for boys and girls to confront, challenge and ask questions about entrenched gender roles and relationships, contributing to more gender equitable attitudes and behaviors among students.
• Mobilize institutional support and long-term commitment to address violence and create more visible impact. This study shows that violence among both boys and girls is deeply rooted and normalized, but that a series of group sessions plus a campaign can set in motion a process in which students become more aware of their own and others' behaviors....[S]chools have an important role to play in helping students distinguish between what is 'playful' versus what is 'violence' - an important prerequisite for ultimately reducing a range of behaviors harmful to girls and women as well as boys and men."