Nigeria advised on adolescent intervention to avoid gender ‘straitjackets’
Research results from 15 countries investigated shows that adolescent interventions should begin with preteens to avoid health risks of gender straitjackets that include abuse and suicide.
The countries include: Bolivia, Belgium, Burkina Faso, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Scotland, South Africa, the United States and Vietnam.
Results were birthed from a compilation of all-inclusive interviews carried out over the last four years with approximately 450 early adolescents matched with a parent or guardian (totalling nearly 900) in number.
This research was released recently by the Global Early Adolescent Study, collaboration between the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) as a collection of articles in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Global Early Adolescent Study, over the past six years, has maintained being an international consortium of fifteen countries which has been working on the Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS). The GEAS aims to understand how gender norms are formed in early adolescence and how they predispose young people to subsequent sexual and other health risks.
The GEAS is led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in conjunction with WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research/Human Reproduction Programme.
According to Robert Blum, Director of the Global Early Adolescent Study based at Johns Hopkins University, “We found children at a very early age, from the most conservative to the most liberal societies, quickly internalize this myth that girls are vulnerable and boys are strong and independent and this message is being constantly reinforced at almost every turn, by siblings, classmates, teachers, parents, guardians, relatives, clergy and coaches.”
“Adolescent health risks are shaped by behaviours rooted in gender roles that can be well established in kids by the time they are ten or 11 years old,” said Kristin Mmari, DrPH, associate professor and lead researcher for the qualitative research at the Global Early Adolescent Study. “Yet we see billions of dollars around the world invested in adolescent health programs that don’t kick in until they are 15, and by then it’s probably too late to make a big difference.”
Findings from the research showed that gender-based restrictions rationalized as “protecting” girls actually made them more vulnerable by emphasizing subservience and implicitly sanctioning even physical abuse as punishment for violating norms. They observed that “in many parts of the world” these stereotypes leave girls at greater risk of dropping out of school or suffering physical and sexual violence, child marriage, early pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
“In New Delhi, the girls talked about their bodies as a big risk that needs to be covered up, while in Baltimore girls told us their primary asset was their bodies and that they need to look appealing—but not too appealing,” Mmari said.
The researchers observed that their findings bore out conclusions from previous work that “during adolescence, the world expands for boys and contracts for girls.”
However, boys are not left out in the research. “We know from research studies and programmatic experience that unequal gender norms can be changed, but this takes carefully planned and implemented interventions that target both young people and the environment they are growing and developing in,” said V. Chandra Mouli, MBBS, MSc, co-director and scientist at the Adolescents and at-Risk Populations Team, Reproductive Health and Research Department, World Health Organisation.
However, Blum rejects the argument that in many parts of the world, gender stereotypes are just part of the traditional culture and are not amenable to change. In his words, “Change can happen, but it requires political will and a variety of interventions. It also requires the knowledge that children pick up on these gender mythologies at a very young age and they proceed to play out in a variety of ways, often damaging, for the rest of their lives.”
KEMI AJUMOBI