TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘I have the confidence to ask’
T2 - thickening agency among adolescent girls in Karnataka, South India
AU - Ramanaik, Satyanarayana
AU - Collumbien, Martine
AU - Pujar, Ashwini
AU - Howard-Merrill, Lottie
AU - Cislaghi, Beniamino
AU - Prakash, Ravi
AU - Javalkar, Prakash
AU - Thalinja, Raghavendra
AU - Beattie, Tara
AU - Moses, Stephen
AU - Isac, Shajy
AU - Gafos, Mitzy
AU - Bhattacharjee, Parinita
AU - Heise, Lori
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Gender norms serve to normalise gender inequalities and constrain girls’ agency. This paper examines how girls’ agency, along a continuum, is influenced by the interplay between constraining and enabling influences in the girls’ environments. We analyse data from a qualitative study nested within a cluster randomised evaluation of Samata, a multi-layered programme supporting adolescent girls to stay in school and delay marriage in Karnataka, South India. Specifically, we compare agency among 22 girls from intervention communities and 9 girls in control communities using data from the final round of interviews in a qualitative cohort. Using the concept of ‘thin’ and ‘thick’ agency on a continuum, we identified shocks like mothers’ death or illness, poverty stress, gender norms and poor school performance as thinning influences. Good school examination results; norms in support of education; established educational aspirations; supportive parents, siblings and teachers; and strategic government and Samata resources enabled thicker agency. The intervention programme’s effect increased in parallel to the gradient from thin to thicker agency among girls in progressively supportive family contexts. Engagement with the programme was however selective; families adhering to harmful gender norms were not receptive to outreach. In line with diffusion theory, late adopters required additional peer encouragement to change norms.
AB - Gender norms serve to normalise gender inequalities and constrain girls’ agency. This paper examines how girls’ agency, along a continuum, is influenced by the interplay between constraining and enabling influences in the girls’ environments. We analyse data from a qualitative study nested within a cluster randomised evaluation of Samata, a multi-layered programme supporting adolescent girls to stay in school and delay marriage in Karnataka, South India. Specifically, we compare agency among 22 girls from intervention communities and 9 girls in control communities using data from the final round of interviews in a qualitative cohort. Using the concept of ‘thin’ and ‘thick’ agency on a continuum, we identified shocks like mothers’ death or illness, poverty stress, gender norms and poor school performance as thinning influences. Good school examination results; norms in support of education; established educational aspirations; supportive parents, siblings and teachers; and strategic government and Samata resources enabled thicker agency. The intervention programme’s effect increased in parallel to the gradient from thin to thicker agency among girls in progressively supportive family contexts. Engagement with the programme was however selective; families adhering to harmful gender norms were not receptive to outreach. In line with diffusion theory, late adopters required additional peer encouragement to change norms.
KW - Agency
KW - India
KW - adolescent girls
KW - gender norms
KW - interventions
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U2 - 10.1080/13691058.2020.1812118
DO - 10.1080/13691058.2020.1812118
M3 - Article
C2 - 32969330
AN - SCOPUS:85091522944
SN - 1369-1058
VL - 24
SP - 16
EP - 30
JO - Culture, Health and Sexuality
JF - Culture, Health and Sexuality
IS - 1
ER -