Adolescents’ Perceptions of Gender Discrimination in India: Do Perceptions Differ For Boys and Girls? - Adolescents’ Perceptions of Gender Discrimination in India: Do Perceptions Differ For Boys and Girls? - Open Access Pub

Despite the gains India has made in recent decades, it remains a country with vast gender inequities. Gender sensitization and empowerment programs aimed at young people, precisely at the time when they are forming their gender attitudes, has the potential to diminish gender inequity in the long-term. This study represents data from 36 qualitative in-depth interviews conducted amongst adolescent boys and girls enrolled in grade 7 in northern India, in schools that serve under-resourced communities. The interviews asked questions related to positive youth development, gender roles, violence, and locus of control. The results of the qualitative analysis provide insights into how adolescents perceive gender discrimination in their families and communnites. The majority of expectations for boys revolved around physical labor, while, for girls, gender roles were primarily focused on stopping education early to get married and take care of the household and children. Many of the responses from both boys and girls on privileges/restrictions were related to daughters not being fully educated while sons often were. Furthermore, when comparing between boys and girls (attributes) and understanding superiority, many participants noted there is a clear preference of boys compared to girls. Girls also had higher proportion of violence codes compared to boys, perhaps because many girls felt they were hit more frequently than boys. The results of this qualitative analysis provide direction for both future research as well as the development of gender sensitization interventions specifically designed for adolescents. DOI10.14302/issn.2641-4538.jphi-19-2995 Gender discrimination negatively influences health, education, and safety of girls and women throughout their lifespan. India ranks 125 out of 159 countries on the gender inequality index, and discrimination starts early with staggering rates of female feticides 1. South Asia is also home to 42% of all child brides worldwide with one-third of child brides being from India 2, and India also records a crime against a woman every two minutes 3. Increasingly, more efforts are being made to address gender disparities by changing gender norms and attitudes among parents, teachers and community leaders in an effort to improve the health and well-being of girls and women. However, to date, little has been focused on understanding adolescents’ perceptions of gender discrimination and attitudes and whether transforming their attitudes may lead to sustainable long lasting change. Gender norms are defined as culturally shared