Introduction:
Gender Equality not necessarily mean that women and men will become the same but that their rights, responsibilities, and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female.(1) Gender differences are created by society. Based on sexual differences, the roles and behaviours are assigned to women and men. As soon as a child is born, families and society begin the process of gender stereotyping and this has an adverse impact on development goals and consequently impact economic growth as well.
There is an increasing recognition of gender equality as a goal fundamental to improve any country's overall health and development. If gender discrimination is rooted out, then women will deliver her knowledge, skills, and potential to develop a family, nation, and ultimately to the whole world.
As per the UNDP report, India ranks 132 out of 187 countries on the gender inequality index. India ranks low partly because of its skewed ratio, with only 924 females for every 1000 males, according to the latest data. As per UNDP report, only 29 percent of Indian women above the age of 15 in 2011 were part of the labour force, as compared to 80.7 percent of men.(2)
Despite the efforts from the government and private organizations and improvement in the overall quality of life and literacy rates, the persistence of gender inequality suggests that there must be on-going social processes that continually recreate gender inequality.(3)
As gender socialization of both boys and girls begin early in India, to promote gender equality, awareness must start in childhood and adolescent age for both girls and boys. It is essential to initiate change processes at a young age to shape attitudes and transform their behaviours.(4)
With improving school enrolment and retention rates in India, schools can serve as crucial space to inculcate and promote progressive attitudes among young people to challenge discrimination and violation related to gender and sexuality.(5) Hence the study attempted to determine the attitude of adolescents towards gender equality and its association with various determinants.
Objectives
- To determine the attitude of adolescents towards gender equality in urban, rural and tribal areas of Southern part of India.
- To determine the influence of socio-demographic variables, interpersonal influences of family, friends and experiences of gender bias with adolescent’s attitude towards gender equality.
Methodology
A cross-sectional study was conducted for a duration of six months among late adolescents between the ages of 16-19 years in Urban, Rural and Tribal areas of Mysuru district, Karnataka. This age group is particularly selected as
- They represent a more vulnerable age group who encounter problems due to issues related to gender inequality
- This age group in the near future is going to define the gender equality in the society, hence would be important knowing their attitude in this direction and
- They would also be better respondents to the questionnaire-based study.
The sample size was determined to be 394 with p=19.6 (which is the proportion of adolescents in India according to 2011 Census), and absolute precision of four. Assuming 20 percent of missing data sample size was rounded off to 500. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted [Figure 1]. Data was collected using a pre-structured, pretested and culturally acceptable, validated questionnaire in local language. The questionnaire extracted information on socio-demographic variables (age, sex, residence, subject that they perused, type of family, religion, family size, presence of female sibling, birth order, socioeconomic status and education of parents), interpersonal influences of family (sharing of household chores, decision making), attitude towards gender equality (scores <57 was considered as negative attitude and >57 was considered as positive attitude towards gender equality) and personal experience of gender bias (administered only for girls)
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Figure 1: Multistage sampling technique adopted in the study |
Ethics statement
Confidentiality and voluntariness were the guiding principles of the study. Informed consent was obtained from each of the study participant and Institution Ethics Committee was obtained before the start of the study.
Statistical analysis
Data obtained was entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed using SPSS V. 24 (Licensed to the institution). Descriptive statistics like proportions, Mean and Median were used. Spearman correlation was used to know the correlation between gender bias experience score and attitude scores among girls. Chi-square analysis was used to know the association of various variables with gender equality attitude scores. p-value was considered significant at < 0.05.
Results
Out of 500 adolescents, 35 had missing data, and hence the data of the remaining 465 were used for analysis. Among them, 47.7 percent were boys and 52.3 percent were girls. The results showed that 50.5 percent had negative attitude towards gender equality and 79.3 percent of adolescent girls had personal experiences of gender inequality from family, friends or society. Among the 243 adolescent girls from whom data was collected, the median score of gender inequality experienced was 29 (24 -34). On applying spearman's correlation between scores of gender bias experience among adolescent girls and attitude towards gender equality, data analysis revealed a moderate positive correlation (r=0.34), which infers that adolescents with better personal experiences of gender equality have a better attitude towards gender equality norms. [Fig 2]
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Figure 2: Scatter diagram shows the relationship between gender bias experience among adolescent girls and attitude towards gender equality (n=243)
*The higher scores in gender bias experience questionnaire points towards better personal experiences of gender equality.
Spearman correlation, r =0.34
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On Chi-square analysis, a significant association was found between attitude towards gender equality norms with residence (tribal adolescents having a better attitude), age (Adolescents of 16 and 17 years having better attitude) and gender (girls had a better attitude) [Table 1].
| Table 1: Association of socio-demographic variables with the attitude of adolescents towards gender equality norms |
| Variables |
Negative attitude (Score<57) (n=235) |
Positive attitude (Score>57) (n=230) |
Total
(N=465) |
Chi-square value |
p-value |
Residence |
Urban |
141(54.2) |
119(45.8) |
260 |
14.29 |
0.001 |
Rural |
65(56) |
51(44) |
116 |
Tribal |
29(32.5) |
60 (67.5) |
89 |
Age |
15 |
1(12.5) |
7(87.5) |
8 |
19.772 |
<0.001 |
16 |
58(42.9) |
77(57.1) |
135 |
17 |
65(45.1) |
79(54.9) |
144 |
18 |
49(59.7) |
33(40.3) |
82 |
19 |
62(64.5) |
34(35.5) |
96 |
Gender |
Male |
167(75.3) |
55(24.7) |
222 |
104.6 |
<0.001 |
Female |
68(27.9) |
175(72.1) |
243 |
| Note: The numbers in the parenthesis indicate the row-wise percentages |
With respect to interpersonal influence of family and friends to gender equality, a significant association was seen between attitude scores and family norms like; father getting involved in doing household activities and involvement of mother as well in taking major decisions related to the family. It was also seen that those with friends displaying gender discrimination attitude also had significantly negative attitude scores [Table 2]. However, there was no significant association seen between education, type of family, religion, family size, presence of female sibling, birth order, socioeconomic status and education of parents with gender equality attitude scores.
| Table 2: Association of interpersonal influence of family and friends in determining adolescents attitude towards gender equality |
| Variable |
Negative attitude (Score<57) (n=235) |
Positive attitude (Score>57) (n=230) |
Chi-square value |
p-value |
Father/other men in the family involved in doing household activities |
Sometimes |
91(44.8) |
112(55.2) |
4.69 |
0.032 |
Hardly ever and never |
144(54.9) |
118(45.1) |
The decision on issues related to children taken by |
Mother |
33(45.2) |
40(54.8) |
11.12 |
0.01 |
Father |
84(62.6) |
50(37.4) |
Both |
112(45.7) |
133(54.3) |
Others |
6(46.1) |
7(53.9) |
The decision on money spent on food and other meagre expenditures taken by |
Mother |
67(52.7) |
60(47.3) |
7.11 |
0.068 |
Father |
55(68.8) |
25(31.2) |
Both |
109(44.6) |
135(55.4) |
Others |
4(28.5) |
10(71.5) |
The decision on huge financial matters taken by |
Mother |
23(40.3) |
34(59.7) |
8.2 |
0.039 |
Father |
108(58.3) |
77(41.7) |
Both |
99(46.7) |
113(53.3) |
Others |
5(45.4) |
6(54.6) |
Have an friend with gender discrimination attitude |
Yes |
82(58.5) |
58(41.5) |
6.06 |
0.012 |
No |
153(47) |
172(53) |
| Note: The numbers in the parenthesis indicate the row-wise percentages |
Discussion
While gender socialization starts at birth, adolescence is a critical point of intensification in personal gender attitudes as puberty reshapes male and female self-perception, as well as social expectations from others e.g. family members and peers.(6) Research findings show that interpersonal influences (family and peers) are central influences on young adolescents' construction of gender attitudes, and these gender socialization processes differ for boys and girls.(7) The attitudes towards gender equality are influenced by Critical factors such as marital stability, family size and sibling gender, labour force participation of parents, and parental involvement that affects developing attitudes among adolescents.(8)
The findings of the present study portray that gender equality attitude is positive amongst 49.5 percent, while in 50.5 percent of adolescents, attitude is negative. Lower gender equality scores is seen in 75.3 percent boys and 27.6 percent of girls. A similar study conducted in Mumbai, India revealed gender equality scores to be high among only 10 percent of the boys. Although the gender equality scores among girls were similar, a unique pattern of high scores was seen in 24 percent.(9) Another study conducted on urban adolescent boys in India, projects equitable gender attitudes to be moderate on 71 percent of the boys and 13 percent reported significantly inequitable gender attitudes.(10) It is also coherent with a qualitative review, which shows that adolescent boys are seen to be favourable in perpetrating gender inequalities than girls and in contrary girls have shown equitable gender attitudes. This could be due to differential gender socialization processes and pressures.(7) These findings validate the significance of inculcating positive gender equality attitude in adolescents to address gender stereotyping both in the families and the surrounding society.
It was also seen that as age increases, the positive attitude towards gender equality declined. Increased reinforcement of social expectations and pressures from family, peers and society on gender-specific roles and identities would probably explain this. Qualitative studies from Europe, North America and sub-Saharan Africa suggested that puberty onset intensifies social expectations related to gender and would reduce the positive attitude towards gender equality. (11, 12)
In the present study, it was observed that patriarchal norms (Father/other men not involving in the household division of labour, only father deciding on issues related to children, money expenditure and other significant decisions) in the family significantly influenced the adolescent's attitude towards gender equality. Those grown up in a family where females were treated equally to the males and all the family members shared responsibilities, including household chores, had a positive attitude. A study done in Uganda also showed similar findings.(13)
Adolescent residents in the tribal area had a relatively better attitude to gender equality compared to rural and urban residents. This difference may be due to the differences in the cultural norms. Also, systematic review findings show that young adolescents, across cultural settings, commonly express stereotypical or inequitable gender attitudes, and such attitudes appear to vary by individual socio-demographic characteristics.(7) Adolescents having friends showcasing negative gender equality norms also had lower gender equality attitude scores. This uplifts the importance of the role of peer in deciding one's gender equality norms. A similar study done to understand the gender socialization process in early adolescence demonstrated the influential roles of parents, siblings, peers can reduce, increase or eliminate gender equality.(14) Another study conducted in Mumbai also found that gender attitude scale was highly associated with attitudes related to condoning violence against girls. It was seen that 35 percent of the boys with the most equitable gender attitudes were least likely to condone violence against girls.(10)
Despite many efforts being done to overcome gender discrimination, 79.3 percent of adolescent girls in the present study reported personal experiences of gender bias from family, friends or society. It was also seen that adolescents with better personal experiences of gender equality also have a better attitude towards gender equality norms. The proportion of girls experiencing gender bias being so high, it is important that sensitization of gender equality norms needs to percolate deep in the society to bring a change where access to rights and opportunities are not dependent on the gender of an individual.
Strengths and limitations
The strength of this study would be that it explores the sensitive issue of attitude towards gender equality among large sample of adolescents of both the sexes belonging to urban, rural and tribal areas. An important limitation would be that an additional qualitative study would provide better insight into the issue.
Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Conflict of Interest: None
References
- United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. UN Women. Available at: https://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/conceptsandefinitions.htm.
- Human Development Report: UNDP. 2013. Available at: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/hdr/human-development-report-2013.
- Ridgeway CL. Framed by gender: How gender inequality persists in the modern world. Oxford University Press; 2011 Feb 9.
- Schriver B, Mandal M, Muralidharan A, Nwosu et al. Gender counts: a systematic review of evaluations of gender-integrated health interventions in low-and middle-income countries. Global Public Health. 2017 Nov 2;12(11):1335-50.
- Challenging Gender Stereotypes and Sexual Harassment in Schools Evidence from Adolescence Education Program in India. Paa2014.princeton.edu. 2018 Available at: http://paa2014.princeton.edu/papers/142082.
- Hill JP, Lynch ME. The intensification of gender-related role expectations during early adolescence. In Girls at puberty 1983. Springer, Boston, MA: 1983. p. 201-28.
- Kågesten A, Gibbs S, Blum RW, Moreau C, Chandra-Mouli V, Herbert A, Amin A. Understanding factors that shape gender attitudes in early adolescence globally: A mixed-methods systematic review. PloS One. 2016;11(6).
- Bharadwaj P, Dahl GB, Sheth K. Gender Discrimination in the Family. In The Economics of the Family: How the Household Affects Markets and Economic Growth, edited by Esther Redmount, 237–66. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger; 2015. p. 237–66
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- Das M, Ghosh S, Verma R, O'Connor B, Fewer S, Virata MC, Miller E. Gender attitudes and violence among urban adolescent boys in India. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth. 2014 Jan 2;19(1):99-112.
- Mora R. “Do it for all your pubic hairs!” Latino boys, masculinity, and puberty. Gender & Society. 2012 Jun;26(3):433-60.
- Stern C, Fuentes-Zurita C, Lozano-Treviño LR, Reysoo F. Masculinity and sexual and reproductive health: a case study among adolescents of Mexico City. Salud Publica de Mexico. 2003;45(S1):34-43.
- Bantebya GK, Muhanguzi FK, Watson C. Adolescent girls and gender justice: Understanding key capability domains in Uganda. Country Report. London: ODI. 2013 Sep.
- Basu S, Zuo X, Lou C, Acharya R, Lundgren R. Learning to be gendered: gender socialization in early adolescence among urban poor in Delhi, India, and Shanghai, China. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2017 Oct 1;61(4):S24-9.
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