Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The shaping of gender beliefs and attitudes intensifies in early adolescence and affects the way adolescent boys and girls internalize and self-enforce prevalent notions of masculinity and femininity. This study examines multi-level determinants of gender attitudes among some of the poorest and most vulnerable adolescents in Tanzania using an ecological model. Data come from an impact evaluation of a ‘cash plus’ intervention, including baseline interviews with 2,458 males and females aged 14-19 years. Structural equation models (SEMs) are used to examine how factors at the community-, household-, and individual-levels influence views towards gender norms in the four domains measured by the Gender Equitable Men (GEM) Scale (i.e. violence, sexual relationships, reproductive health and disease prevention, and domestic chores and daily life). Factors examined include age, gender, education and sexual debut, as well as location, household economic activity, distance to the nearest market and cultural norms around inheritance. A SEM of the four latent domains of the GEM scale regressed on individual, social-interactional and structural level characteristics indicated that secondary school attendance was associated with more equitable gender attitudes, while females held less equitable attitudes than males in the sample. Having sex was associated with more gender equitable attitudes among females, but the reverse was true among males. Addressing gender inequity requires understanding gender socialisation at the socio-interactional level. Given that sometimes girls had more inequitable gender attitudes than boys, a special emphasis on highlighting the value of women to women should be considered.