Towards Gender Equality: The GEMS Journey thus Far

"[B]eing one of the key institutions of socialization, schools have the potential to promote gender equality and question the use of violence to bring about and sustain change."

This evaluation of the Gender Equality Movement in Schools (GEMS), a curriculum for children aged 12-14 in India, observed significant improvements in the children's attitudes to gender and violence, the interaction between boys and girls, communication with teachers, and reduced perpetration of violence. The GEMS study is a collaborative effort of International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), Child in Need Institute (CINI), and Life Education and Development Support (LEADS), Jharkhand.

GEMS (see Related Summaries, below) is a school-based primary violence prevention programme for young adolescents studying in grades 6-8. GEMS reaches out to all children attending classes to recognise and challenge inequitable behavior and violence - as opposed to engaging through intervention with only those children who exhibit threatening or aggressive behaviour. GEMS draws its approach and strategies from 4 conceptual pillars: starting young, engaging both girls and boys in the gender discourse, using a gender transformative approach, and using institutional settings for normative change. Each of these pillars is described in the report; for example, the reader learns that "[c]reating opportunities for engaging girls and boys to observe everyday manifestations of norms, reflect, analyze and challenge them is a critical process in the GEMS approach....Opportunities of critical reflection (individual and collective) are created through the methodology of classroom-based Group Education Activities (GEAs), school campaigns, community engagement and peer-led activities." GEMS' Theory of Change draws from the social normative framework and applies to the construction of gender and violence therein. GEMS uses a combination of the cognitive-affective approach and life skills to bring transformative and sustained changes toward gender-based violence (GBV) prevention.

In Jharkhand, GEMS was implemented and evaluated in 80 schools across Ranchi and Khunti districts from 2014-2016. Formative research was conducted with students in workshop settings to adapt the programme to the context of Jharkhand. The training of select teachers, focused on helping them examine the inherent biases and the ways in which they reinforce stereotypes in obvious and subtle ways, was followed by an orientation meeting with all school staff. In addition to the core GEMS activities, such as GEAs in classrooms (12 sessions in year 1 and 12 in year 2), and school and community campaigns, GEMS in Jharkhand included meetings with School Management Committee (SMC) members and specific GEAs with Bal Sansad (children's parliament) members.

The randomised trial involved 3,069 students (1,764 girls and 1,305 boys) from the 80 schools in Jharkhand - 40 schools where GEMS is being implemented, and 40 comparison schools. Data collection was carried out at a) baseline (July-August 2014); b) midline - after the first year of intervention (February-March 2015); and c) endline (January 2016). In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with a select cohort of 60 girls and boys from intervention and comparison schools to understand the process of change.

Findings confirm the value of school-based prevention approaches that begin in early adolescence, when ideas about gender and violence are still being formed. Select findings (see the full report for more, as well as findings from the interviews, including narratives from students and teachers):

• There was a positive and significant shift in attitude with respect to gender and violence among students in intervention schools - The net increase in the mean score, adjusted for background characteristics, is significant for both girls [Adjusted DiD ( difference-in-differences )=2.3; p<0.01]and boys [Adj DiD=3.8; p<0.01] (Table 2A in Annexure 2). There is a significant increase in the proportion of students in the high equitable category in intervention schools over time (2% to 14%) than comparison schools (1% to 7%) and even higher reduction in proportion of students in low equitable category – 47% to 35% in intervention, while 49% to 44% in comparison schools. ("It is important to note that a very small proportion of students had equitable gender attitude at the baseline, and probably change is more difficult and time taking when the environment is adverse.")
• There was a decline in support with respect to corporal violence among students post intervention - At baseline, 31% students from GEMS schools and 33% from comparison schools disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement: It is fine for teachers to give physical punishment to students in certain situations. The proportion of such students increased to 56% at endline in intervention schools and 40% in non-GEMS schools.
• There was a decline in acceptance of peer-based violence - A higher proportion of students disapproved of peer-based violence in intervention schools (40% to 67%) than in comparison (40% to 50%), with net increase of 15% adjusted to background characteristics (p<0.01).
• GEMS was found to improve communication among peers (e.g., there is a net increase of 16% in proportion of girls and boys who reported sharing a desk in the classroom) and between students and teachers, increased comfort in interaction with the persons of other sexes, and enhanced agency to seek information and voice their opinion.
• There was "[e]nhanced recognition of violence and increase in positive bystander intervention for different forms of violence among students in GEMS schools... - Boys from GEMS schools reported increase in positive action in case of physical violence (tried to stop perpetrator or reported to a teacher or principal) [Adjusted DID=10.6%, p<0.01] and reduction in use of violence (hitting or using abusive language against the perpetrator) [Adjusted DID=-14.8%, p<0.01] to stop emotional violence than non-GEMS schools over time (Table 2B in Annexure 2). On the other hand, there was a significant increase in the proportion of girls reporting positive action in case of emotional violence [Adj DID = 9.7%, p<0.01] and decline in negative action (enjoyed or joined the perpetrator) in case of sexual violence [Adj DID = -21.1%, p<0.01] in GEMS schools over time compared to non-GEMS schools."
• "Change in reported perpetration of violence was more pronounced in comparison schools despite no or little change in attitude or overall environment of schools - Significantly lower proportions of students from comparison schools reported perpetrating violence in last three months in school at endline as compared to intervention school. Proportion of such students declined from 49% to 35% in comparison schools, while the change was from 50% to 44% in intervention schools over time (Table 2C in Annexure 2)....The correlation between attitude and perpetration of violence overtime presents an interesting pattern – in intervention schools, students who reported a positive shift in attitude toward violence also showed a decline in perpetration of violence demonstrating an alignment of thought and action; whereas in comparison schools there is decline in perpetration irrespective of attitude."

As part of the documentation process, teachers and principals from 10 schools were interviewed. Their reflections and articulations are broadly grouped under 3 heads in the report: (i) value and need for GEMS programme (many of them felt that GEMS provided a "potent instrument" to talk about gender discrimination - a concept they knew about but did not understand in reality), (ii) transcending personal and professional lives (the two most oft-repeated impacts of the GEMS programme were around the understanding of violence experienced by boys and the recognition of subtle forms of violence), and (iii) initiatives taken up at school level (e.g., 2 schools took a big leap by emulating the democratic electoral process to give all interested boys and girls an equal chance to get into leadership roles).

Activities that focus on parental engagement are recommended, as well as regular school and community-based campaigns and events. As GEMS is increasingly accepted to be a tool to challenge discrimination and violence, the report notes that there is need to: consolidate the gains made; develop strategies to deepen the programme and enhance its effect; and build a systemic response to gender and violence within the institutional and policy framework. The report also notes operational issues that future school-based programming might seek to address, including: ensuring GEMS teachers have adequate preparation time; beginning GEMS early (when children are 10 years old) and continuing GEMS for longer; investing in positive discipline skills; and building a response system for dealing with varied complaints of violence.

"Overall, the GEMS program succeeded in engaging teachers and students in discussion, reflection and questioning gender discrimination and violence. The acceptance of the program in itself is a positive sign as it opens up institutional spaces and frameworks for taking forward the discourse on gender and primary prevention."