Social Institutions as Mediating Sites for Changing Gender Norms: Nurturing Girl’s Resilience to Child Marriage in Uganda (Paywall)

Poised at the intersection between childhood and the world of adults, adolescent girls face unique challenges to the full development and exercise of their capabilities. Child marriage, one of the forms of sexual violence is noted to constrain and/or shape girls’ current and life-course opportunities and capabilities. The practice remains widespread in Uganda, associated with gender discriminatory social norms, attitudes and practices that make up the social ecology in which adolescent girls live in Uganda. Drawing on a three-year qualitative study on transforming the lives of adolescent girls and young women in Uganda undertaken between 2012 and 2014, the article illuminates the role of social institutions as mediating sites in nurturing girls’ resilience to child marriage in Uganda. With reference to the socio-ecological model of resilience, the family was posited as a foundational site for nurturing girls’ resilience to discriminatory social norms and practices that sustain child marriage. The school was also noted to be a mediating site that offers support structures and acts as a springboard for positive change. The findings suggest that coordinated actions by multiple actors at the family and school level to effectively address the underlying discriminatory social norms and their manifestations in limiting girls’ capabilities have potential to enhance girls’ resilience to child marriage and promote girls’ empowerment.

Keywords: Uganda, child marriage, social norms, adolescent girls, social institutions
 

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Florence Kyoheirwe Muhanguzi

FLORENCE KYOHEIRWE MUHANGUZI is a researcher, gender activist and Senior Lecturer in the School of Women and Gender Studies, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda. Her area of interest is gender focused research in the field including women’s health and sexuality, reproductive health, women’s rights, social protection and adolescent girls' wellbeing.
 

Grace Bantebya Kyomuhendo

GRACE BANTEBYA-KYOMUHENDO is a Professor in the School of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. She is a distinguished Social Anthropologist and an experienced trainer/lecturer, researcher and advocate for gender equality and social transformation. Grace has done extensive research on adolescents and young women, social norms, maternal health, social exclusion, gender and poverty and transforming the lives of young women and girls. Email: 
 

Carol Watson

CAROL WATSON is a social anthropologist with a doctorate from Columbia University focusing on gender and development. With a professional career of over 20 years with UNICEF in various country contexts, she is currently working as an independent consultant for diverse organisations. Recent assignments have included social assessments, policy research and qualitative field studies linked to social protection, poverty and vulnerability, and gender and adolescence. She is also engaged in social protection policy and strategy development. Email: 

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