Interactive Curriculum to Reshape Gender Norms

Women and girls around the world experience pervasive gender inequality and gender-based discrimination. In many places, including India, social norms contribute to gender gaps that severely limit women’s educational, professional, economic, and personal growth. 

From 2013 to 2017, researchers partnered with the human rights NGO Breakthrough and the state government of Haryana, India to measure the impact of a school-based gender equality curriculum on adolescents’ gender attitudes, aspirations, and behaviors. They found that a series of interactive classroom discussions led to more gender-progressive attitudes and gender-equitable behaviors among adolescent students. 

Based on these findings, Breakthrough and J-PAL South Asia partnered with governments in the Indian states of Punjab and Odisha to adopt the program at scale. The curriculum was rolled out to sixth through eighth graders in all 6,250 state-run schools in Punjab in July 2022, and rollout is anticipated for sixth through tenth graders in 23,000 state-run schools in Odisha in 2024.

The Problem

Gender-based discrimination and inequitable gender norms can severely limit women’s educational, professional, economic, and personal growth.

Gender inequality remains pervasive globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. In many contexts, gender gaps persist due to cultural norms that disadvantage women throughout their lives—reducing access to educational opportunities, restricting options for labor force participation, and limiting autonomy over marriage and fertility decisions.¹ Gender inequality is particularly pronounced in India, where sex selection remains common practice.² Moreover, gender inequality extends into other aspects of women and girls’ lives: early marriage and childbearing are common, women face limited agency over their physical mobility, and female labor force participation remains low.³

Economic development alone is unlikely to achieve gender equality, as many gender gaps remain despite economic progress, suggesting a need to directly target ingrained gender norms. Interventions that address people’s perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors may be able to shift social norms toward more equitable treatment of women. Targeting such programs to adolescents, who are still developing their own sense of identity and morality and whose attitudes remain malleable, has the potential to be particularly impactful.

The Research

A series of interactive classroom discussions centered on themes of gender equality led to more gender-progressive attitudes and gender-equitable behavior among adolescent students in Haryana.

In partnership with the Government of Haryana, Breakthrough—a non-governmental organization that seeks to eliminate violence against women and girls—developed the Taaron ki Toli (“Gang of Stars,” or TkT) program to create awareness of gender-based discrimination, promote gender-equitable attitudes and behaviors, and raise girls’ aspirations. Through interactive classroom-based sessions, the curriculum is designed to increase adolescents’ self-awareness and confidence, to change gender discriminatory attitudes, and to influence decisions related to their health, safety, education, careers and age of marriage. The curriculum was developed with input from a broad range of actors, including education officials, principals, and teachers, to ensure it could be integrated into the standard school curriculum and subsequently scaled. 

In partnership with Breakthrough and the Government of Haryana, J-PAL affiliate and Gender sector chair Seema Jayachandran (Princeton University), together with J-PAL affiliate Tarun Jain (Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad) and Diva Dhar, conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact of this school-based program on adolescents’ gender attitudes, aspirations, and behaviors. 

From a sample of 314 government schools, 150 were randomly selected to implement the program. The program began in the 2014-2015 academic year and targeted male and female students between the ages of 11 and 15 from grades 7 to 10. Over a period of two and a half years, Breakthrough facilitators visited schools every three weeks to lead a series of 45-minute classroom sessions.

The evaluation found that students who participated in the program expressed more progressive gender attitudes. Both boys and girls changed their behaviors to be more gender equitable, though these changes were stronger for boys, who reported doing more household chores and encouraging their older sisters to pursue college. By contrast, girls did not report doing fewer chores, suggesting they may face greater external constraints to enacting change. These effects persisted at least two years after the end of the program. 

Additionally, the program increased the likelihood that students perceived that their community held more progressive social norms and changed their perceptions around women pursuing employment and university education. The program had no impact on girls’ educational and professional aspirations, which were already high at the start of the program; however, two years later, girls who had participated in the program were slightly more likely to apply to a college scholarship program established by the researchers. 

These results suggested that norm-based interventions targeted towards adolescents can lead to more gender-progressive attitudes and behaviors. They also highlighted the importance of including boys and men in programs aimed at altering gender norms. 

For more information, see the evaluation summary and more in-depth policy Briefcase.

From Research to Action

Based on results of the evaluation, the Governments of Punjab and Odisha scaled up the gender equality curriculum in government schools. 

Drawing on findings from the evaluation in Haryana, the state governments of Punjab and Odisha are now working with Breakthrough and J-PAL South Asia to scale up the gender equity curriculum across both states.  

As part of Breakthrough’s commitment to creating a gender-sensitive society and a gender-transformative education system in India, the organization worked with J-PAL South Asia to identify settings to scale the curriculum. These efforts focused on the government school system, which offers an avenue toward gender transformation at scale, and J-PAL’s existing institutional partnerships with multiple state governments created a promising opportunity. 

J-PAL South Asia identified multiple Indian states with a commitment to addressing gender inequality and similar conditions to Haryana, including high rates of adolescent school attendance and robust school staffing and infrastructure. J-PAL’s Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with state governments provided an established channel of dialogue through which to introduce the program and subsequently, the institutional structure to support implementation. During initial dialogues, Punjab and Odisha emerged as the most promising settings for the adoption of the program at scale. The Departments of Education in both states had also previously collaborated with J-PAL South Asia to evaluate education programs, creating a foundation to partner on scaling the curriculum.⁴ 

Similar to Haryana, despite a high rate of economic growth and several welfare programs for women, Punjab ranks low on gender outcomes. The Education Department recognized the need to change underlying gender norms and was enthusiastic about the program’s potential to shape progressive gender attitudes among its youth. After initially discussing the curriculum with the Secretary for School Education in Punjab in 2019,⁵ J-PAL South Asia facilitated a series of discussions between the Department of Education and Breakthrough staff to discuss implementation details and propose a model for the statewide scale-up of the program. 

On International Women’s Day (March 8, 2021) the Chief Minister of Punjab announced that the Department of Education would integrate the curriculum into its syllabus for students in grades 6 through 8. The Government of Punjab allocated program costs in its state budget, including translating and printing textbooks and developing teacher training materials. The Department of Education then worked with Breakthrough to integrate the curriculum into the English, Social Studies, and “Moral Sciences” textbooks. 

“In service of our mission to transform gender outcomes in the state and achieve gender parity, I am delighted to launch this initiative to directly address gender discrimination and encourage the growth of gender equitable mindsets in our young citizens. The expansion of Breakthrough's gender sensitization program throughout Punjab will bring about a ripple effect as this curriculum begins to shift gender norms and behaviors of our students, who will grow to shape the fabric of our state." 

— Krishan Kumar, Former Principal Secretary, Department of School Education, Government of Punjab in 2020

In July 2022, the curriculum was rolled out in all 6,250 state-run schools in Punjab. More than 12,000 government school teachers received training on the curriculum, which reached 600,000 students during the 2022–23 and 2023–24 school years and is set to reach 800,000 during the 2024–25 school year.

The state of Odisha, with which J-PAL South Asia also has an institutional partnership, is also pursuing policies to improve gender equity, counter gender-based violence, and support women’s economic empowerment. In spite of these efforts, the state continues to face gender-based challenges, including child marriage, low female labor force participation, and spousal violence.⁶ In light of the government’s priorities around addressing gender inequity, the Department of School and Mass Education (DSME) decided to introduce the gender equity curriculum into the school syllabus. An MoU was signed between the DSME, Breakthrough, and J-PAL South Asia under the leadership of the Minister of Education of the Government of Odisha in August 2022. 

 “The inclusion of gender dimension in the school curriculum is a very notable step for Odisha. Despite the gains and progress India has made in gender equality, there are issues that continue to remain unaddressed even today. This intervention can bring about positive changes in the way we look at gender issues. And schools are the best places to start these conversations. We will have wide-ranging topics that will be covered in schools as part of this programme in our continued efforts to build a gender-equal world." 

— Bishnupada Sethi, Former Principal Secretary, School and Mass Education Department, Government of Odisha

Following the MoU, officials across departments concerned with school education engaged actively with Breakthrough and J-PAL South Asia to provide input on the curriculum and ensure the success of implementation.  The curriculum and the plan for rollout were adapted to suit the local context and diverse audience in Odisha. As in Punjab, the government has committed a portion of its budget to training teachers and printing textbooks. The curriculum will be integrated into the social studies textbooks for students in grades 6 through 10. After completing teacher training, the DSME plans to introduce the program to approximately 23,000 government schools across Odisha in April 2024, with the potential to reach more than 2.8 million students annually. 

Three-way partnerships anchor scale-up in both states. The governments of Punjab and Odisha are driving and funding the program, Breakthrough is adapting the curriculum to the states’ contexts and providing technical assistance on implementation, and J-PAL South Asia is capturing lessons learned from research and implementation to ensure the success of the scale-up.

Breakthrough continues to adapt the curriculum and implementation model to make scale-up successful. In the Haryana evaluation, the curriculum was delivered by Breakthrough facilitators, but this model would be expensive to implement at scale. To deliver the curriculum across multiple states, Breakthrough modified the program by training school teachers through a cascaded training model to deliver the program to students. 

The partners are leveraging ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and research to ensure the success of the gender equity curriculum at scale. Breakthrough and the Government of Punjab are conducting independent process monitoring of the cascade training, giving the government information in real-time so it can adapt its approach as needed. In Odisha, Breakthrough plans to evaluate the impact of new interventions to deepen parent and teacher engagement in the curriculum. J-PAL affiliates and Breakthrough are currently discussing additional research in Odisha on the impact of providing teachers—who already juggle teaching and other responsibilities during the school year—with additional incentives for delivering the curriculum. 

These efforts are being undertaken by Breakthrough and J-PAL with support from New Venture Fund, VEDDIS Foundation and the Global Innovation Fund. 

References

Dhar, Diva, Tarun Jain, and Seema Jayachandran. 2022. “Reshaping Adolescents' Gender attitudes: Evidence from a School-Based Experiment in India.” American Economic Review 112, no. 3 (March): 899-927. doi: https://doi.org/10.3386/w25331