Do gender-equitable attitudes translate to gender-equitable choresharing behavior? A sex-stratified longitudinal analysis among adolescents in Kinshasa

Kathryn M. Barker, Caroline Moreau, Mengmeng Li, Jennifer Gayles, Kristin Mmari, Eric Mafuta, Kara Hunersen, Rebecka Lundgren

Abstract

Unpaid care work is disproportionately performed by women and girls, negatively impacting their ability to engage in educational, social, and economic opportunities. Despite calls to address these inequities, empirical evidence on interventions designed to shift gender attitudes is limited, especially within adolescent populations. To address this gap, we used longitudinal data to conduct difference-in-difference and logistic regression models to examine the impact of a norms-shifting intervention in Kinshasa on adolescent gender-equitable chore-sharing attitudes. As compared to controls, intervention participants were 2.3 times (p<0.001) more likely to hold gender-equitable attitudes towards chore-sharing at end line. Using baseline attitudes to predict end line behavior, we find that, as compared to adolescents with gender-inequitable attitudes, boys and girls who espoused equitable gender attitudes were 1.9 times (p<0.001) and 1.5 times (p=0.005), respectively, more likely to report gender-equitable chore-sharing behavior. Norms-shifting interventions should be prioritized among very young adolescents as a strategy to shift gender-inequitable attitudes. (Afr J Reprod Health 2022; 26[12s]: 88-97).

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