SUMMARY
Younger women are more likely to reject restrictive gender norms than older women in most countries, except Pakistan
Younger women with higher education are more likely to reject restrictive gender norms than their peers with lower education in most countries, except Pakistan
Power to refuse sex still limited by deeply ingrained norms often attributed to religion / tradition, and also power imbalances esp. among young women with least education
Power to obtain contraception still limited by strong stigma and social disapproval among young women in all countries including the USA
Gender norms are deeply seated beliefs that are taken for granted, and thereby insidiously sustain power imbalances and systemic inequalities across a wide range of domains including education, employment, reproductive health, household division of labor, etc. Past research shows how restrictive gender norms have negative long term impact on health and economic outcomes for both women and men, and especially for women in lower wealth quintiles. Many such norms were formed under specific historical circumstances, but continue to persist long after those societal contexts are no longer relevant.
Gender norms are not static nevertheless, and can shift over generations as people gain more life experiences and exposure to alternative beliefs and world views. This paper compares endorsement of gender norms across 3 cohorts of women - ages between 15-24, between 25-34, and 35 years or older - in 7 countries spanning 3 continents: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, and USA. Note that Ethiopia sample was only in the south (sub-national) due to civil war and insecurities in the north during our field period.
Except in USA, random cluster samples in all 6 other countries were drawn with probability proportional to size (PPS) from census enumeration frames providing full national coverage, stratified by urban-rural area classification. In USA, the sample of women was a hybrid blend of probability-based and non-probability web panels, calibrated to correct for self-selection bias among the non-probability panel respondents.
Gender norms included in this survey tapped into diverse domains (sexual and reproductive health, sexual relations, and financial decision power etc.) that are often associated with various health outcomes. We compare normalized distributions across countries, as well as generational shifts across cohorts within country.
For example, across all countries in this study except Pakistan, young women under 25 years old were consistently more likely than older women to reject the norm that a woman is not fully a woman until she becomes a mother.
Similarly, younger women in Kenya and Southern Nigeria are more likely to reject the norm that a woman should have sex with her partner even when she does not want to, compared to older women in the same country. Similar trends, albeit less pronounced, are also observed in other countries except Pakistan.
Across all countries, no majority of women endorsed the norm that a man should have greater decision power in household finances even when the woman makes more than the man. Although strong majority rejection was only apparent in USA and Ethiopia (sub-national).
We then examined when and how these generational shifts might be moderated by women's level of education - the 2-way interaction effect emerged in some instances, whereby younger women with higher education were most likely to reject restrictive gender norms. As shown below, young women ages under 25 with tertiary education were consistently more likely to reject the norm that "a woman is not fully a woman until she becomes a mother" than other subgroups.
Even though younger women tend to reject restrictive gender norms, they were also more likely to feel too shy and embarrassed to procure contraceptives on their own, in all countries including the USA.
This cohort effect was not much affected by level of education, implying that even young women with tertiary education do not feel more empowered than their peers with lower education on this matter.
In sum, even though we see some slow generational shifts away from restrictive gender norms, the stigma of procuring contraceptives remain. When young women in different countries were asked why they feel shy or embarrassed to get contraceptives, the most common responses revolve around strong taboos as suggested by the following:
… “Family Planning is written on the door, everybody knows what you are doing when you are going there”
… “you are being judged, they put too many bad names on you - you are a wild woman, you have bad manners, you are not a good Christian”
… “if you are young and not married, you are not supposed to be doing it“
… “you will get dirty looks from the pharmacist!”
Above elements seem relevant to young women regardless of education level.
Overall, these results show that younger women are more likely to reject restrictive gender norms than older women in most countries; and younger women with higher education are more likely to reject restrictive gender norms than their peers with lower education in most countries.
However, these cohort shifts are stunted in norms around the power to refuse sex, which seems to be still limited by deeply ingrained norms often attributed to religion and tradition. There is also the reversal in trend of generational progress whereby young women feel the least comfortable to obtain contraception due to strong stigma and social disapproval across diverse cultural contexts.
Source: LinChiat Chang, Hina Alavi Murtaza, and Grace Wairimu Njoroge. 2023. Generational Shifts in Restrictive Gender Norms: Comparisons Across 7 Countries in 3 Continents. Paper presented on panel titled "Gender in Public Opinion Research" at the annual conference of the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) in Salzburg, Austria.