Continuity and Change in Social Norms for Nepali Adolescent Girls: The drivers and inhibitors of early marriage and education

This study explores early marriage in Nepal by specifically examining changes in social norms over three decades. It finds that girls and boys have more decision making power over when and whom they marry compared to their mothers’ and grandmothers’ generations.

Girls and boys, however, continue to have unequal opportunities at school. Dropout rates for girls remain high, which the study finds to reflect the social norm of ‘son bias’ in household expenditure on education.

The government, NGO programmes, and men (fathers, father figures, etc.) are found to have key roles to play in tackling gender discriminatory norms and should thus be encouraged to become drivers of change.