C4D Network

Global community of professionals working in Communication for Development

Private sector involvement in development: What impact on gender norms? (ALIGN Report, 2018)

The private sector is becoming an increasingly important development actor. This ALIGN report, by Rebecca Calder, explores some of the ways in which the private sector is engaging with discriminatory gender norms and their impacts. It examines private sector motivations for engaging with gender norms, efforts to integrate women and girls into supply chains, and their outcomes, and gender lens investing as a means to support norm change activities. It also examines some private sector innovations that are being adopted in social change activity.

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Masculine Norms and Violence: Making the Connections (Promundo Report, 2018)

The report finds that male identity and masculine norms are undeniably linked with violence, with men and boys disproportionately likely both to perpetrate most forms of violence and to die by homicide and suicide. Boys and men are often raised, socialized, and encouraged to be violent, depending on their social surroundings and life conditions.

Why is it that men and boys are disproportionately likely to perpetrate so many forms of violence, as well as to suffer certain forms of violence? To add a new dimension to the complex answer, this report explores “masculine norms” – the messages, stereotypes, and social instructions related to manhood – as crucial factors driving men’s violence.

The report outlines five processes through which masculine norms shape the likelihood of men and boys experiencing or perpetrating violence: (1) achieving socially recognized manhood, (2) policing masculine performance, (3) “gendering” the heart, (4) dividing spaces and cultures by gender, and (5) reinforcing patriarchal power.

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Social norms and women’s risk of intimate partner violence in Nepal (Social Science & Medicine 202:162-169, 2017)

Social norms increasingly are the focus of intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention strategies but are among the least examined contextual factors in quantitative violence research. This study assesses the within-community, between-community, and contextual effect of a new measure of social norms (PVNS: Partner Violence Norms Scale) on women’s risk of IPV. Data come from baseline surveys collected from 1435 female, married, reproductive-age participants, residing in 72 wards in three districts (Chitwan, Kapilvastu, Nawalparasi) in Nepal who were enrolled in a cluster randomized trial testing the impact of a social behavioral change communication intervention designed to prevent IPV.

The study finds that PVNS is a promising measure of social norms underpinning women’s risk of IPV and warrants further psychometric testing.

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The Effectiveness of a Social Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Strategy in Changing Social Attitudes on Equal Rights to Property for Women – The Case of Kosovo (USAID Conference Paper, 2018)

Society in Kosovo is considered patriarchal and patrilineal, where property inheritance is traditionally transferred to men (Joireman, 2015). Even though the laws on Gender Equality and Law on Inheritance are considered egalitarian, the social norms continue to encourage patriarchal values that exclude women from property inheritance.

This paper addresses the social context and norms related to property inheritance. It discusses how it has negatively affected women’s ability to inherit and own property, and describes interventions implemented under the USAID-funded Property Rights Program (PRP), namely a multi-channel Social and Behavior Change Communications (SBCC) campaign, with the aim of countering these negative effects. The application of an SBCC methodology to encourage change in beliefs, attitudes and behavior on women freely exercising their property rights in practice is the focus of this paper.

This paper was presented at the Annual World Bank Land and Poverty Conference.

Social Norms and Girls’ Well-Being: Linking Theory and Practice Report (Data2X, 2017)

This report initially reviews the landscape of theory around social norms (“Theory”). It then investigates two projects that have facilitated change around norms and practices of female genital cutting (FGC) and child marriage: Tostan’s Community Empowerment Program (CEP) in West Africa and Population Council’s Abriendo Oportunidades (“Opening Opportunities”; AO) project in Latin America (“Practice”).

The report concludes by discussing the implications of both theory and practice for the future of social norms change (“The Way Forward”).

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