Changes and continuity in gendered social

norms and practices : Cases of marriage

and education in Nepal

Dr. Anita Ghimire

PRESENTED AT REGIONAL SEMINAR:
WOMENS EMPLOYMENT, ENTREPRENEURSHIP & EMPOWERMENT:
MOVING FORWARD ON IMPERFECT PATHWAYS
20-23 May, 2-15

The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank
(ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and
accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty
or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.

The Research
Context:

Whom: Adolescent girls, young women,

adolescent boys and people who play critical
role in adolescent girls and young womens
lives

Where: Wayal (rural) and Salena (semi-rural) of

Doti

When: Fieldwork between March-April, 2014

Qualitative research methods used: 4CM,

9FGDs, 12IDIs, 12Case studies, 8GP and 10KIIs115 interaction in total.

Approach: Social norms and gender justice and

uses the idea of capabilities

Country context: Improving wellbeing and

economic transformation: from Maoist conflict
to graduating out of the list of least developed
countries

Changes and continuity in marriage and

education
What we found: changing discriminatory norms/practices

More elope marriage and less arranged marriages marriage age decreased upto 12 yrs in
elope marriages

Change in rationale for marriage- earlier boys married to bring in labour force to the
family - could not go against parents to support wife in case of injusticenow boys
marrying for themselves, more supportive and fair to the wife.

Increase in age of arranged marriage - average 8 yrs in grandmothers, 11 yrs in mothers

and 17.72 in present generation.

Girls do not have the final say in when and whom to marry in arranged marriageshowever earlier girls were not informed by parents while girls are now informed about the
groom

Increase in age of childbearing and decrease in age difference between spouse-earlier the
age difference was up to 30 yrs.

Increasingly positive attitude about the value of girls education- only witches studygrandmother's generation why do girls need to go to school- mother's generation .,
daughters should also get education- present generation

Contd...
What we found: changing discriminatory
norms /practices

Life of adolescent girls has changed for better

quickly in comparison to their elder sisters,
mothers and grandmothers

Differences between rural and urban areas,

caste and religious groups - continues to play
important roles despite changes.

Increased aspirations and expectations in midst

of stringent norms among adolescent girls so
increased likelihood of being disappointed.

Marriage necessarily does not stop a girl from

going to school but pregnancy does

Positive discrimination in schools and

classrooms to promote girls self confidence

Contd....
What we found: persistent discriminatory norms/practices
Education not a quality strong enough to make a desirable wife- more priority
in culture and cultural standard of the family of the bride Sanskar more
important than education
Support systems from parental community ends after marriage A father gives the daughters hand saying if you kill her you will earn sin and if you take care of
her you will earn merit KII Hindu religious leader, age 59, Kathmandu .

Difference in expectations from sons and daughters- daughters are brought up

with a focus on making them a dutiful daughter in law

they(parents) expect their to look after them when they are old. If they are sick they expect them
that we provide medicine to them......they expect very little from their daughters. They think that
the daughters will leave their home, so have no expectation as such.- a young boys observation of
difference in expectation and treatment.

Fathers duty for daughters- inculcate good values safeguard virginity, search
for an able groom, marry her off and take financial responsibility of marriage to
earn place in heaven

Contd.
What we found: persistent discriminatory norms
Norms and practices revolves around the notion of an ideal girl/women/
daughter-in-law/mother/wife
A good wife should adjust with all members of family, not quarrel, should not go out of house, wear
traditional clothes, dA good husband should be able to fulfil wifes wishes, take care of parents, has a job,
and can provide well for wife and children.o not talk to outsider male and be willing to do all kinds of
household work

Son bias in expenditure in education- sons going to private English medium

schools and daughters going to government run Nepali medium schools which
are cheaper
Education so that girls can be a good mother and more understanding with inlaws . Education is not necessarily linked with a girls career We dont use daughters

income for household expenses. If she wants to do a job, we prefer that she does it after marriage Community
timeline , Salena.

Dropout rates start after grade seven for both girls and boys and becomes
higher after grade 10.
Restriction in mobility (only allowed to continue education if the commmunity school has that gradenot allowed to go out of community for higher education) , failure in class due to time poverty,
underinvestment in education, overburden of household work, stigma of
studying with students of younger age when failed resulting in drop outs

Drivers of change

Awareness and development programs

and policies e.g. School Sector Reform

Prpgrams in schools, activities of women
development office

Role models - young teachers, young health

workers, female social activists

Media and communication technology

both positive and negative eg role of peers

and cells phones in changing arranged

marriage

Family - drivers of change as well as

maintainers of stasis

Schools - as platforms

Peers as buffers

Very important roles of men both within the

family and outside the family
Source: Fieldwork,2014

Inhibitors of change
Role of economics and migration- too poor to try new things- focus is always on
providing for basic life
Migration to India- migrants following what their family back home say without
question
Fear of negative outcomes and social backlash
Eg parents started delaying their daughters marriage and keeping them in school but girls eloped
from school. When girls pursue higher education they become too old to get married and hence
parents do not get a groom

Lack of agency amongst leaders of change- no platform to bring them together to

push change- so always individual efforts.
Gender discrimination issues compartmentalised as women's issue only - Men
supportive towards ending gender discrimination but stigmatised for raising
womens issue and women only taking in women to fight against it.

Possible actions for influencing change

Harmful practices are guided by social

norms which in turn are shaped religion deeply entrenched- girls themselves abide
by it.

Programs for women had created agency

of girls and young women- this agency has
helped them fight discriminatory practices agency- and later changed norms

What combination has worked best to

change normsEducation and awareness, + enforcement
of gender friendly laws + monitoring by
local reference groups and ties up of
informal agency of women to

These came together by chance - could

learn from these and replicate it in
interventions.

Source: Fieldwork,2014

Key policy implications

Programs should take into account

gendered nature of interaction
between girls and drivers of change

Encourage the role of men

Support families in ending

discriminatory social norms.

Long term and focused interventions

Involving parents in formal

educational system of children
Source: Fieldwork,2014