Using a randomized controlled trial, this article evaluates the impact of a gender norms intervention for young adolescents in Somalia. The program leads to greater support for gender equality in the privately reported attitudes of girls and boys, with further positive effects on mental health, aspirations, and boys’ engagement in housework. A novel lab-in-the-field experiment is used to observe social group dynamics among adolescent peers and examine the program’s impact on receptivity to social conformity. Asch-inspired conformity measures are adopted to demonstrate a treatment effect on conformity in gender beliefs (when stated publicly) versus conformity in a more general class of publicly stated beliefs as a placebo test. The findings show that private changes in gender beliefs lead to differences in an adolescent’s willingness to conform to group beliefs. Treated adolescents are less likely to succumb to peer pressure, leading to greater public expression of egalitarian ideals.
Authors: Brar, Rajdev; Buehren, Niklas; Papineni, Sreelakshmi; and Sulaiman, Munshi
Type: Journal Article
Year: 2025
