Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia

Despite decades of economic growth, gender inequality in South Asia remains remarkably high. Although not the only one, social norms are a crucial driver of various gender outcomes, including differential economic participation. Using repeated cros...

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Main Authors:	Bussolo, Maurizio, Ezebuihe, Jessy Amarachi, Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria, Poupakis, Stavros, Rahman, Tasmia, Sarma, Nayantara
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2022
Subjects:	GENDER NORMS SOCIAL NORMS ECONOMIC EQUITY GENDER ROLES GENDER INEQUALITY PREFERENCE FOR SONS GIRLS MARRIAGE AGE FEMALE AGENCY FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE FEMALE EMPOWERMENT GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099836008162257499/IDU00777b24900e5004b75099da096c16c1db28a http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37895

id	okr-10986-37895
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-378952022-08-18T05:10:35Z Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia Bussolo, Maurizio Ezebuihe, Jessy Amarachi Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria Poupakis, Stavros Rahman, Tasmia Sarma, Nayantara GENDER NORMS SOCIAL NORMS ECONOMIC EQUITY GENDER ROLES GENDER INEQUALITY PREFERENCE FOR SONS GIRLS MARRIAGE AGE FEMALE AGENCY FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE FEMALE EMPOWERMENT GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE Despite decades of economic growth, gender inequality in South Asia remains remarkably high. Although not the only one, social norms are a crucial driver of various gender outcomes, including differential economic participation. Using repeated cross-sectional data from nationally representative surveys, this paper explores the long term trends of gender outcomes and social norms (proxied by attitudes towards gender roles) in South Asia. The results corroborate the evidence that there has been almost no progress in gender equality in South Asia over the past half-century. There has been little progress on female labor force participation, marriage age, agency, intimate partner violence, and preference for sons, with education being the only exception. The lack of progress is apparent among all socioeconomic groups, including women who live in urban areas, are educated, and have higher incomes. Gender attitudes also remain unchanged, and in some cases, have become more conservative and have a negative relationship with gender outcomes. Better measurements of social norms and better understanding of how their constraining role can be loosened may be critical for achieving gender equality in the region. 2022-08-17T16:09:10Z 2022-08-17T16:09:10Z 2022-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099836008162257499/IDU00777b24900e5004b75099da096c16c1db28a http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37895 English en Policy Research Working Papers;10142 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research South Asia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English English
topic	GENDER NORMS SOCIAL NORMS ECONOMIC EQUITY GENDER ROLES GENDER INEQUALITY PREFERENCE FOR SONS GIRLS MARRIAGE AGE FEMALE AGENCY FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE FEMALE EMPOWERMENT GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
spellingShingle	GENDER NORMS SOCIAL NORMS ECONOMIC EQUITY GENDER ROLES GENDER INEQUALITY PREFERENCE FOR SONS GIRLS MARRIAGE AGE FEMALE AGENCY FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE FEMALE EMPOWERMENT GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE Bussolo, Maurizio Ezebuihe, Jessy Amarachi Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria Poupakis, Stavros Rahman, Tasmia Sarma, Nayantara Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia
geographic_facet	South Asia
relation	Policy Research Working Papers;10142
description	Despite decades of economic growth, gender inequality in South Asia remains remarkably high. Although not the only one, social norms are a crucial driver of various gender outcomes, including differential economic participation. Using repeated cross-sectional data from nationally representative surveys, this paper explores the long term trends of gender outcomes and social norms (proxied by attitudes towards gender roles) in South Asia. The results corroborate the evidence that there has been almost no progress in gender equality in South Asia over the past half-century. There has been little progress on female labor force participation, marriage age, agency, intimate partner violence, and preference for sons, with education being the only exception. The lack of progress is apparent among all socioeconomic groups, including women who live in urban areas, are educated, and have higher incomes. Gender attitudes also remain unchanged, and in some cases, have become more conservative and have a negative relationship with gender outcomes. Better measurements of social norms and better understanding of how their constraining role can be loosened may be critical for achieving gender equality in the region.
format	Working Paper
author	Bussolo, Maurizio Ezebuihe, Jessy Amarachi Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria Poupakis, Stavros Rahman, Tasmia Sarma, Nayantara
author_facet	Bussolo, Maurizio Ezebuihe, Jessy Amarachi Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria Poupakis, Stavros Rahman, Tasmia Sarma, Nayantara
author_sort	Bussolo, Maurizio
title	Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia
title_short	Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia
title_full	Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia
title_fullStr	Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia
title_full_unstemmed	Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia
title_sort	social norms and gender equality : a descriptive analysis for south asia
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2022
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099836008162257499/IDU00777b24900e5004b75099da096c16c1db28a http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37895
_version_	1764488078797307904

Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia

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