Gender-equitable attitudes are often constructed during adolescence making this a critical time to alter gender perceptions. However, there is little research on gender attitudes and gender equity in early adolescence, especially in India. This study is a cross-sectional sample of 1,691 participants 8-18 years from three Northern India states. Surveys were collected on mobile tablets and assessed gender perceptions and attitudes. Gender-equitable scores were categorized into low, medium and high. Gender-equitable attitudes and gender vary by grade (p < .001). Gender-equitable attitudes improved with grade, but boys were 46% less likely to be in the moderate category compared to the low category as grade increased (p < .01). Compared to girls, boys were 56% less likely to be in the high category compared to the low category as grade increased (p < .001). Early adolescence is a unique opportunity to address gender attitudes before they become more solidified.
Despite the gains India has made over the past 20 years, it remains a country with significant gender inequalities. Gender sensitization and empowerment programs during adolescence, when gender attitudes are formed, have the potential to diminish gender inequity. The Girl rising 'Gender-sensitization program' was implemented in 254 schools in India to support adolescents in identifying, articulating, and sharing their gender-related experiences. A quasi-experimental study was conducted with a one group pre-and post-test with a sub-sample of schools in rural Punjab and Rajasthan, India (n = 2,894 adolescents). Multivariable regression analyses adjusting for gender, grade, and district found that gender equality scores increased by 0.66 points (p < .001), gender roles/privileges/restrictions mean score increased by 0.41 points (p < .001), and gender attribute mean score increased by 0.17 points (p < .001). Gendersensitization programs can play an important role in forming and changing gender attitudes during adolescence, and have the potential to alter their short and long-term beliefs.
Girl Rising, a global campaign, uses the power of storytelling to build a movement for adolescent girls by inspiring people to change the way girls are valued, and sparking social action. We Dream, We Rise, is a social media campaign that was launched to call attention to age-old gender stereotypes that have gone unquestioned for generations and to inspire adults across the country to ‘dream as big for their girls as they do for their boys’. A descriptive evaluation of the campaign was conducted to measure its reach, saliency, and lessons learned. The campaign evaluation focused primarily on reach, engagement, perceptions of the campaign messaging, and intention to take social action. The campaign reached 25 million people, received more than 600,000 views, and engaged with more than 200,000 people, which yielded a more than 2% engagement rate compared to the industry average of 1%. While extracting meaningful information from social media campaigns can pose to be challenging, there is a need to move beyond just measures of reach. Measurement on quality, saliency, and outcomes are critical to ensuring that future campaigns are successful and yield the desired rigor, quality, and investments needed to facilitate change.
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