Attitude towards gender roles and violence against women and girls (VAWG): baseline findings from an RCT of 1752 youths in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Background: Violence against women is driven by gender norms that normalize and justify gender inequality and violence. Gender norms are substantially shaped during adolescence. Programs offered through schools offer an opportunity to influence gender attitudes toward gender equity if we understand these to be partly shaped by peers and the school environment.

Objective: We present an analysis of the baseline research conducted for a randomized controlled trial with 1752 grade 6 boys and girls and their attitudes toward gender roles, VAWG, and associated factors.

Methods: We used baseline data from a  cluster randomised control study. Interviews were conducted in 40 public schools in Hyderabad, with 25–65 children per school. Questions were asked about attitudes toward gender roles, peer-to-peer perpetration, and victimization experiences, and family life, including father- or in-law-to- mother violence and food security. Multiple regression models were built of factors associated with gender attitudes for boys and girls.

Results: Our result have shown youth attitudes endorsing patriarchal gender beliefs were higher for boys, compared to girls. The multiple regression model showed that for boys, patriarchal gender attitudes were positively associated with hunger, depression, being promised already in marriage, and being a victim and/or perpetrator of peer violence. For girls gender attitudes were associated with hunger, experiencing corporal punishment at home, and being a perpetrator (for some, and victim) of peer violence.

Conclusion: Youth patriarchal attitudes are closely related to their experience of violence at school and for girl’s physical punishment, at home and for boys being promised in early marriage. We suggest that these variables are indicators of gender norms among peers and in the family. The significance of peer norms is that it provides the possibility that school-based interventions which work with school peers have the potential to positively impact youth patriarchal gender attitudes and foster attitudes of gender equality and respect, and potentially to decrease youth victimization and perpetration.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender roles
• gender norms
• youth perpetration
• youth victimization
• violence against women and girls (VAWG)

Responsible editor: Stig Wall, Umeå University, Sweden

Responsible editor: Stig Wall, Umeå University, Sweden

Acknowledgments

This document is an output from the What Works to Prevent Violence: A Global Programme which is funded by UK Aid from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The funding was managed by the South African Medical Research Council. However, the views expressed and information contained in it are not necessarily those of or endorsed by DFID, which can accept no responsibility for such views or information or for any reliance placed on them.

We would like to thank all the children and their parents who agreed to participate in the research and the Right To Play intervention, the schools which hosted Right To Play and their teachers, the Sindh and Hyderabad Education Departments who have supported our study, and the Right to Play staff, coaches, and volunteers who have been helpful.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics and consent

The ethical approval was acquired from Ethical Review Committee of Aga Khan University, and the Ethics Committee of the Medical Research Council of South Africa approved this study. Permission was later acquired from school principals, school teachers, and parents. Details of the ethical review process is published elsewhere. McFarlane, J., et al., Preventing peer violence against children: methods and baseline data of a cluster randomized controlled trial in Pakistan. Global Health: Science and Practice. 2017;5(1):115–137.

Paper context

Gender inequality drives violence against women and girls through gender norms established in childhood. Among Pakistani grade 6 children, poverty and depression drive patriarchal gender attitudes, alongside gender norms at home and among peers, as shown by the links to youth violence. Interventions are needed in schools to empower girls and boys to challenge prevailing gender norms, such as the intervention of the NGO Right To Play. It is very important that we understand its impact.

Additional information

Funding

DFID of UK Aid.

Notes on contributors

Tazeen Saeed Ali

TS-A: conceptualization of analysis, drafted the original manuscript, participated in data collection and tool validity, and incorporated the feedback from the co-authors.

Rozina Karmaliani

RK: funding acquisition, refining of methodology, participated in data collection and tool validity, reviewed the final manuscript before submission.

Judith Mcfarlane

JM: conceptualization, and supervision, review and editing of manuscript.

Hussain M. A. Khuwaja

HMAK: participated in reviewing and writing of some paragraphs in the discussion section and a part in formatting the reference.

Yasmeen Somani

YS: contributed in the analysis conceptualization and a part in formatting the reference.

Esnat D. Chirwa

EDC: data curation and formal analysis, Writing in analysis part of methodology section.

Rachel Jewkes

RJ: conceptualization of manuscript, funding acquisition, investigation, methodology, supervision, visualization, and reviewed and edited final manuscript