Empowering Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries: Gender Justice and Norm Change - Hardcover

Excerpt of review in Gender and Development, Routledge

"Empowering Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries provides excellent analysis of new research into norm change relating to adolescent girls. This volume explores how discriminatory gender norms can limit adolescent girls’ development of their capabilities, while also highlighting pathways for realising more egalitarian gender norms. This book is an important addition to current discussions on both adolescence and social norm change in gender and development spheres. Policymakers, academics, practitioners, and students in the field of gender and development alike will benefit from its presentation of empirical research, and its analysis of different aspects of policies and programmes across multiple countries and contexts." -- Imogen Davies, Global Adviser – Youth, Gender and Active Citizenship, Oxfam, UK

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/doi/view/10.4324/9781315180250, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license

Adolescence is a pivotal time in a girl's life. The development of educational, physical, psychosocial, familial, political and economic capabilities enable girls to reach their full potential and contribute to the wellbeing of their families and society. However, progress is still significantly constrained by discriminatory gender norms and the related attitudes and practices which restrict girls’ horizons, restrain their ambition and, if unfettered, allow exploitation and abuse.

Empowering Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries explores the detrimental impact of discriminatory gender norms on adolescent girls’ lives across very different contexts. Grounded in four years of in-depth research in Ethiopia, Nepal, Uganda and Viet Nam, the book adopts a holistic approach, recognising the inter-related nature of capabilities and the importance of local context. By exploring the theory of gendered norm change, contextualising and examining socialisation processes, the book identifies the patriarchal vested interests in power, authority and moral privilege, which combine in attempts to restrict and control girls’ lives.

Throughout the book, Empowering Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries demonstrates how efforts to develop more egalitarian gender norms can enable disadvantaged adolescent girls to change the course of their lives and contribute to societal change. Accessible and informative, the book is perfect for policy makers, think tanks, NGOs, activists, academics and students of gender and development studies.