Resisting social conformity pressure: Impact of a gender norms intervention for adolescents in Somalia

Using a randomized controlled trial, this paper evaluates the impact of a gender norms intervention for young adolescents in Somalia. The program leads to greater support for gender equality in the privately reported attitudes of girls and boys; with further positive effects on mental health, aspirations, and boys’ engagement in housework. A novel lab-in-the-field experiment is used to observe social group dynamics among adolescent peers to examine the program’s impact on receptivity to social conformity. We adopt Asch-inspired conformity measures to demonstrate a treatment effect on conformity in gender beliefs (when stated publicly) versus conformity in a more general class of publicly stated beliefs as a placebo test. We find that private changes in gender beliefs lead to differences in an adolescent’s willingness to conform to group beliefs. Treated adolescents are less likely to succumb to peer pressure to conform when stating their gender attitudes in public, leading to greater public expression of egalitarian ideals. The effects on conformity are observed only for the gender norms domain. Our findings suggest that social norms interventions can be effective in positively shaping gender attitudes, helping to empower adolescents to withstand normative pressures.