The Intersection of Power and Gender: Examining the Relationship of Empowerment and Gender-Unequal Norms Among Young Adolescents in Kinshasa, DRC

"...results call for integrated approaches to concomitantly address gender inequities and agency to promote adolescent health and well-being."

Early adolescence is a time when social expectations shift, as gendered messages intensify with the onset of puberty. Thus, researchers and policymakers consider this developmental stage to offer a window of opportunity to shift unequal gender norms, before the emergence of adverse health outcomes. This study explores the gender norm perceptions of disadvantaged 10- to 14-year-old boys and girls in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as well as their "power to" voice opinions and make daily decisions - two dimensions of agency that are relevant in the developmental stage of adolescence. It also explores how gender norm perceptions about relationships, roles, and traits relate to voice and decision-making domains of agency, assessing these patterns among the overall sample and examining differences by sex.

The study includes data from the Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS), a longitudinal cross-cultural study that is part of a broader study evaluating the impact of the Growing up GREAT! Intervention, a social norms intervention (see Related Summaries, below). Data from 2,610 adolescent boys and girls living in a densely populated and impoverished area in Kinshasa, where many inhabitants are migrants from rural areas of the DRC, were included in the study.

The researchers examined correlations between:

• Three dimensions/scales of perceived gender norms:
  • Sexual double standard (SDS) - measures the extent to which adolescents perceive that boys socially benefit from romantic relationships, while girls are socially ostracised for the same behaviour.
  • Gender stereotypical roles (GSR) - assesses adolescents' perceptions of normative patriarchal roles within the family - for example, that men are decision-makers and women care-takers.
  • Gender stereotypical traits (GST) - assesses the extent to which adolescents perceive gendered traits for males and females, such as dominance and subservience, respectively.
• Two domains/scales of agency:
  • Voice - includes seven items that evaluate adolescents' ability to articulate their needs and opinions.
  • Decision-making - includes four items that evaluate young people's influence over decisions in their daily lives.

The researchers conducted sex-stratified simple and multivariable linear regression models to assess associations, adjusting for sociodemographic factors. They also tested for differences in the association between gender norm perceptions and agency by sex.

Gender norm perceptions were highly unequal across the three domains of SDS, GST, and GSR, with scores ranging from 4.28 to 4.47 (range of 1-5). Girls were more likely than boys to perceive a SDS (4.43 vs. 4.14, p < .001). Girls were also more likely to report a perceived difference in expected traits by sex (i.e., male strength and female vulnerability) (4.53 vs. 4.41, p < .001).

That is to say, the researchers observed strong gender-unequal perceptions about relationships, traits, and roles in the sample: Sexual and romantic experience, strength, and dominance were prized among boys, and notions of vulnerability and subservience were reinforced among girls, who also experienced social sanctions for engaging in romantic relations. These findings conform with previous research indicating that by age 10, gender-unequal norms are widely understood and accepted.

Correlations between gender norm perceptions and agency scores were low, implying that gender norms and power (as proxied by agency) are distinct constructs. Among boys, greater perception of a SDS was related to more voice (p=0.001) and more decision-making power (p=0.008). Similar patterns were observed among girls for the relationship between SDS and voice (p=.001), but not for decision-making. Increased perceptions of GST were related to more voice among girls (p=.001), while girls who perceived greater GSR had less decision-making power (p=0.010).

In short, adolescents who perceived greater gender inequity in relationships (and, among girls, those who perceived greater inequity in gendered traits) reported greater ability to voice their needs and opinions. These positive associations "could indicate that boys and girls who have greater agency are also better able to identify socially dominant gender norms. Alternatively, adolescents who perceive more unequal norms may be more likely to ascribe to them and in turn be rewarded with greater agency....When addressing gender inequities, it is thus important to consider potential unexpected consequences that may arise, as young people who challenge prevailing gender notions could have less agency."

Other implications for programmes and policies include:

• The findings of similar levels of inequitable gender expectations and that voice is higher among boys highlight the importance of integrated interventions that include boys during the early adolescent period.
• The finding that unequal gender norms and gendered differences in power are distinct points to the need to address both girls' empowerment and the gender unequal ideas entrenched among not only adolescents but also among gatekeepers of these norms. In other words, programmes focusing on either girls' empowerment or social norms to promote gender equality are unlikely to be successful if they do not address both at the same time.

The researchers outline some limitations to the study. For example, though items within the GEAS agency and gender norms scales were identified based on cross-cultural themes that emerged from qualitative research across 14 sites, the conceptual frameworks underpinning these measures originate largely from the work of Western theorists. Thus, they rely on conceptualisations of autonomy and gender that may not be universal in their application to diverse contexts. "Further refinement of scales to include contextually relevant items could improve both measurement and our understanding of the important role that culture plays when examined across different settings."

In conclusion, the researchers stress that interventions aiming to promote gender equality should consider gender unequal norms and gender-unequal divisions of power to be important but different dynamics. "While the perceptions of highly inequitable gender norms are ubiquitous among youth in Kinshasa, their relationship with empowerment is complex and deserving of critical reflection by researchers and programmers."