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The significance of adolescence in the life course / Nicola Jones, Elizabeth Presler-Marshall and Fiona Samuels -- What can a focus on gender norms contribute to girls' empowerment? / Caroline Harper and Rachel Marcus -- "Sticky" gendered norms : change and stasis in the patterning of child marriage in Amhara, Ethiopia / Nicola Jones, Bekele Tefera, Guday Emirie and Elizabeth Presler-Marshall -- The politics of policy and programme implementation to advance adolescent girls' well-being in Ethiopia / Nicola Jones, Elizabeth Presler-Marshall, Bekele Tefera and Bethelihem Gebre -- The paradox of change and continuity in social norms and practices affecting adolescent girls' capabilities and transitions to adulthood in rural Uganda / Carol Watson, Grace Kyomuhendo Bantebya and Florence Muhanguzi Kyoheirwe -- From national laws and policies to local programmes : obstacles and opportunities in communications for adolescent girls' empowerment in Uganda / Grace Kyomuhendo Bantebya, Florence Muhanguzi Kyoheirwe, and Carol Watson -- Intersecting inequalities: the impact of gender norms on Hmong adolescent girls' education, marriage and work in Viet Nam / Nicola Jones, Elizabeth Presler-Marshall and Tran Thi Van Anh -- Triple invisibility : the neglect of ethnic minority adolescent girls in Viet Nam / Nicola Jones, Elizabeth Presler-Marshall and Tran Thi Van Anh -- Small but persistent steps on the road to gender equality : marriage patterns in far west Nepal / Fiona Samuels and Anita Ghimire -- Continuity and change : how embedded programmes improve the lives of adolescent girls / Fiona Samuels, Anita Ghimire, and Matthew Maclure -- Pushing the boundaries of social order : adolescent girls and norm change / Caroline Harper and Rachel Marcus

Adolescence, wherever you live, is a potentially turbulent and challenging time and no less so in the four countries where we undertook our work. Here, transitions
through adolescence are fraught with difficulties, in part due to the deeply
embedded gender norms which determine what a girl can and cannot do and how
she must be. Each specific context came with its own factors: multi-ethnic and
multi-religious communities, remoteness, variable services (if any at all) and, sometimes,
a policy and cultural context without recognition of adolescence, where the
transition to adulthood is short or immediate rather than prolonged.
Nevertheless, what we know from biological sciences is that adolescence is a
developmental period – a time when the body and mind changes. These changes
bring with them potential which in the right context, can open new opportunities.
Our interest was in exploring that potential and how gendered norms might truncate
opportunities and limit the development of capabilities which every young
adult could aspire to own – the ability to have a political voice, to be educated,
to be in good health, to have control over one's body, to be free from violence, to
be able to own property and earn a livelihood, to be economically and politically
empowered.
We were intrigued by the very common experiences of adolescent girls across
multiple contexts. This learning and sharing enabled us to explore in much greater depth what norms are and how they operate within political and institutional
spaces at national and community levels. It also allowed us to explore the changing
and different conceptual understandings of gendered social relations, gender equality
and the usage of the term 'norm' to capture embedded, often implicit, informal
rules by which people abide, and which are bound into the values people and societies
accept implicitly, accept reluctantly or actively contest.

"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.? "--Provided by publisher.