Reshaping Adolescents' Gender Attitudes: Evidence from a School-Based Experiment in India / Diva Dhar, Tarun Jain, Seema Jayachandran.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dhar, Diva.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Jain, Tarun.

Jayachandran, Seema.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w25331.

NBER working paper series no. w25331

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Reshaping Adolescents' Gender Attitudes

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2018.

Summary:

Societal norms about gender roles contribute to the economic disadvantages facing women in many developing countries. This paper evaluates a school-based intervention in India that engaged adolescents in classroom discussions about gender equality for two and a half years with the goal of eroding their support for restrictive gender norms. Using a randomized controlled trial, we find that the program made attitudes 0.18 standard deviations more supportive of gender equality, or, equivalently, converted 16% of participants' regressive views. In addition, self-reported behavior became more aligned with progressive gender norms, particularly among boys. The effects observed in the short run were still present two years after the program had ended.

Notes:

Print version record

December 2018.