Protesting Societal Norms for Sustainable Girls’ Empowerment through Education

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

This panel delves into the critical linkages between societal norms and the transformative potential of girls’ education. Through four compelling research papers, this panel seeks to underscore that sustainable progress in gender equality in and through education necessitates a fundamental shift in prevailing social norms. These shifts need to take place at all levels of society: at the individual level, at family and community level, within formal and informal educational institutions and settings, and at policy level.

The central theme threading through this panel is the indisputable need to address and reshape societal norms that perpetuate gender disparities. Education and its actors do not exist in isolation; they are intrinsically entwined with societal norms, often reflecting and reinforcing gender inequalities that exist in wider society. By examining the complex interplay between norms and girls’ education, this panel endeavors to instigate meaningful discussion on the indisputable need for normative transformation in creating sustainable opportunities for girls. Importantly, it also discusses how this transformation can be done. ‘Protest’ to transform gender norms can take multiple forms: from individual and collective resistance among students to sexist and misogynistic practices; mobilisation outside educational settings for legal and policy change; to the ‘quieter’ form of protest of committed implementation of progressive actions and policies.

This panel will consider different approaches to shifting discriminatory gender norms related to girls’ education. It begins with an overview of the literature and research regarding approaches that seek to embed normative change within education systems, and presents a framework for conceptualizing the spaces within education systems that have the potential to transform inequitable gender norms and strategies for each. The second paper will discuss a synthesis of strategies from across 41 girls’ education projects that have aimed to shift gender norms both inside and outside of the education system, and will discuss what has and hasn’t worked from an implementation perspective. The third and fourth presentations provide deep dives into the contextual research, strategies and results from programs that have shown traction in instigating meaningful and sustained change.

The papers offer diverse yet interconnected perspectives on the role of social norms in girls' education, enriching our comprehension of the challenges and opportunities these norms present, and ways that inequitable norms can be contested and transformed. By igniting discussions and fostering thoughtful insights, this scholarly discourse paves the way for actionable recommendations applicable to a wide range of programs and policies.

Sub Unit

• Gender Justice SIG

Organizer

• Proma Saha, International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Chair

• Khadijah A Fancy, Cambridge Education

Individual Presentations

• Transforming Gender Norms through education: evidence and entry points - Daniel Mark Waistell, Cambridge Education

• Contesting gender norms that oppress marginalized girls and their education – lessons from the Girls’ Education Challenge - Sharon Tao, Girls' Education Challenge

• Shifting Gender Social Norms Amidst Expanded Expression of Empowerment and Agency Among Out-of-School Girls in Sierra Leone - Marlana Salmon-Letelier, IRC Teachers College; Giulia Di Filippantonio, IRC Sierra Leone - Freetown; Isabel Pearson, International Rescue Committee

• Access and continuity of quality education for older adolescents and girls in the refugee camp and host community of Cox’s Bazar - Proma Saha, International Rescue Committee (IRC); Ashraful Haque, International Rescue Committee; Md Galib Hasan, International Rescue Committee (IRC); Md. Mohosin Abedin, International Rescue Committee; Jeffrey Dow, International Rescue Committee (IRC); Htet Thiha Zaw, International Rescue Committee (IRC); Silvia Diazgranados, International Rescue Committee

Discussant

• Emma Sarton, Cambridge Education