Introducing gender norms

Gender norms - set ideas about how girls and boys should act - play a significant role in the cause and continuation of SRGBV.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines gender roles as "socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.” For example: that girls (and not boys) should complete household chores before and after school.

Gender norms make young people and children vulnerable to violence, and push people to perpetrate certain forms of violence. For example, common misconceptions such as ‘boys will be boys’ try to justify boys harassing girls or having fights with each other, suggesting that they are not accountable for their actions.

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