Tarun Jain: Reshaping Adolescents’ Gender Attitudes: Evidence from a School-Based Experiment in India

Special Lecture

11th October 2018
Social Science Building S1.50
14:00 - 15:30

Abstract:
Societal norms about gender roles perpetuate the economic disadvantages facing women in many developing countries. This paper evaluates an intervention aimed at eroding support for restrictive gender norms, specifically a multi-year school-based intervention in Haryana, India, that engaged adolescents in classroom discussions about gender equality. Using a randomized controlled trial, we find that the intervention improved adolescents’ gender attitudes by 0.25 standard deviations, a sizable effect in comparison to other correlates of their attitudes such as their parents’ attitudes. Program participants also report more gender-equitable behavior; for example, boys report helping out more with household chores.

Full text: http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~sjv340/reshaping_gender_attitudes.pdfLink opens in a new window