‘I have the confidence to ask’: thickening agency among adolescent girls in Karnataka, South India

Abstract

Gender norms serve to normalise gender inequalities and constrain girls’ agency. This paper examines how girls’ agency, along a continuum, is influenced by the interplay between constraining and enabling influences in the girls’ environments. We analyse data from a qualitative study nested within a cluster randomised evaluation of Samata, a multi-layered programme supporting adolescent girls to stay in school and delay marriage in Karnataka, South India. Specifically, we compare agency among 22 girls from intervention communities and 9 girls in control communities using data from the final round of interviews in a qualitative cohort. Using the concept of ‘thin’ and ‘thick’ agency on a continuum, we identified shocks like mothers’ death or illness, poverty stress, gender norms and poor school performance as thinning influences. Good school examination results; norms in support of education; established educational aspirations; supportive parents, siblings and teachers; and strategic government and Samata resources enabled thicker agency. The intervention programme’s effect increased in parallel to the gradient from thin to thicker agency among girls in progressively supportive family contexts. Engagement with the programme was however selective; families adhering to harmful gender norms were not receptive to outreach. In line with diffusion theory, late adopters required additional peer encouragement to change norms.

KEYWORDS:

• Agency
• adolescent girls
• gender norms
• interventions
• India

Acknowledgments

We thank girls and their parents for their participation in the lifeline case study and engagement with the intervention. We would also thank Srikanta Murthy HS, Kumar Vadde, Tejaswini Hiremath, Vanishree, Uma Kudrimath and the Samata team for their significant contribution to implementing the intervention and the evaluation. We acknowledge the translation work offered by Ambuja Vinayak. Finally, we thank the interviewers, field staff and the administration and finance teams of Karnataka Health Promotion Trust for their ongoing hard work and support.

Disclosure statement

On behalf of all the co-authors, I confirm that neither I, nor any of my co-authors, have any conflicting interests.

Data availability statement

The data used in this paper was collected as part of a larger cluster randomised trial conducted in Karnataka, South India. Given the sensitive and potentially identifying nature of the transcripts from qualitative interviews, we agree to make this data available, in the most ethical way, to an individual on request basis. The qualitative data from this study can be made available to any interested party by requesting to the corresponding author at the following e-mail address: [email protected].

Additional information

Funding

Project Samata was funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) as part of STRIVE, a 6-year programme of research and action devoted to tackling the structural drivers of HIV (http://STRIVE.lshtm.ac.uk/) and ViiV Healthcare. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the UK government or ViiV Healthcare. None of the funding sources played a role in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or the writing of the results. The corresponding authors had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.