Developing a self-concept intervention with Centre for Girls' Education

This project seeks to refine and test a self-concept intervention that will tackle the effects of gender stereotypes on girls’ identity formation, learning outcomes, and choice of vocation. Normative stereotypes can influence both the academic performance and career preference of an identity group. Economic theory has found stereotypes lead to adaptive preferences (Akerlof & Kranton 2000; Hoff & Walsh 2018), where individuals form preferences per their perceived social role that do not maximize their utility. Psychology studies have documented how “stereotype threat”, or reminding an individual about negative stereotypes relating to their identity group in a given domain, causes performance decrements and interest withdrawal in the said domain (Spencer et al. 2016). 

In Northern Nigeria, where 63% of secondary school girls drop out for marriage (Save the Children, 2021) and women rarely hold professional jobs (DHS, 2018), culturally rooted psychological factors such as poor self-image and domestically-oriented identity perceptions are a major hindrance to girls’ ability to excel in STEM fields (Okorafor et al. 2015). To enter tertiary vocational training, a girl must both do well in STEM subjects and be determined to choose a professional career path over early marriage. Identity-based psychological barriers are likely to constrain both, and interventions that address them may significantly improve girls’ admission to tertiary training. Researchers will work with the NGO called the Centre for Girls’ Education (CGE), which is planning to implement an RCT of a tutoring program and is willing to test the self-concept intervention in their treatment group.