Gender-Equitable Men (GEM) Scale

Excerpts from "Horizons Operations Research Toolkit on HIV/AIDS" and "The Gender-Equitable Men (GEM) Scale":

"The Horizons Program and Instituto Promundo developed the Gender-Equitable Men (GEM) Scale to directly measure attitudes toward 'gender-equitable' norms. The scale is designed to provide information about the prevailing norms in a community as well as the effectiveness of any programme that hopes to influence them.

The GEM Scale is intended to (1) be multi-faceted and measure multiple domains within the construct of gender norms, with a focus on support for equitable or inequitable gender norms; (2) address program goals related to sexual and intimate relationships, and sexual and reproductive health and disease prevention; (3) be broadly applicable yet culturally sensitive, so indicators can be applied in and compared across varied settings and be sufficiently relevant for specific cultural contexts; and (4) be easily administered so that a number of actors - including the organizations that are implementing the interventions - can take on this type of evaluation.

The development of the GEM Scale was grounded in formative, qualitative research on gender norms with young men in low-income settings in Rio de Janeiro (Barker  2000 and 2001). Horizons and Promundo conducted a second study with men in both low and middle-income neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro to test 34 items on attitudes toward gender norms (Instituto Promundo and Instituto Noos 2003). After performing factor analyses and other psychometric tests, 24 items were selected to constitute the GEM Scale - 17 items in an 'inequitable' subscale and seven items in an 'equitable' subscale (alpha > .80 for the full Scale).

Baseline findings revealed that agreement with inequitable gender norms was associated with greater risk. Respondents with a higher GEM Scale score (indicating greater support for inequitable gender norms) were significantly more likely to report sexually transmitted infection symptoms and physical and sexual violence against a partner than respondents with lower GEM Scale scores.

The GEM Scale was successfully adapted for use in India to measure attitudes toward gender norms among young men in Mumbai. Through formative research findings and a review of the literature on women’s status in India, additional India-specific items were proposed. For the adaptation, 34 items, including 17 original GEM Scale items and 17 new items, were used to finally select 15 items through factor analysis and internal consistence checks.

Research using the GEM Scale has now been carried out in Brazil, India, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nicaragua. Please see the source, below, for more information and access to this research."

For the GEM Scale developed initially in Brazil and adapted to the Indian context, please see: "The Gender-Equitable Men Scale (GEM Scale)" [PDF] from Pulerwitz, Julie and Gary Barker. 2007; and "Measuring attitudes toward gender norms among young men in Brazil: Development and psychometric evaluation of the GEM scale," Men and Masculinities, 10: 322–338.