James Mugaju, UNICEF Kaduna Field Office, July 2013.

Integration of Legal, Moral and Social Norms to

improve Girl’s education in Northern Nigeria

James Mugaju, UNICEF Kaduna Field Office, July 2013

NIGERIA

-Nigeria Map

Problem Statement

Analysis of Legal, Moral and Social Norms

Theoretical framework learned to describe the desired outcomes

Way Forward (expected change in practice/collective behaviour)

Key Highlights

70% of the population live below the poverty line. The poverty profile of households complicates the situation of girls who are often asked to drop out form schools to generate extra income for families.

about 30% of school-age girls drop out of school due to early marriage and child bearing before the age of 18 years.

There are serious gender biases in school systems in the northern Nigeria.

Problem Statement

UNICEF

Percentage of children of primary school age attending primary or secondary school (Net attendance ratio), Nigeria, 2011, per zone

There are legal, moral and social norms that encourage or discourage the drop out of girls from schools in the northern Nigeria

Cultural and religious biases due to religion, ignorance and poverty do contribute to worsen girl’s drop out from schools.

Significant evidence that legal, moral and social norms are key determinants of child well-being in all phases of the life cycle

Analysis of Legal, Moral and Social Norms

Norms are rules or expectations that direct human behaviour within a cultural setting or a social group.

Existence of social norms do promote or discourage the demand or use of social services such as immunization (against Polio), attendance to ante-natal clinics, testing for HIV, girls ‘enrolment in schools

Social Norms may govern or direct individual and family behaviours

An effort to address girl’s education challenges would require a better understanding of the reasons behind parents’ behaviour, empirical and normative expectations that are impeding girl’s education

Analysis of Legal, Moral and Social Norms

Empirical expectation is what parents of families believe that others do (Bicchieri, 2013).

Normative expectation is what parents believe that others/ and the society think they should do (Bicchieri, 2013).

Vulnerable families believe that others think that they have to marry off their girl child early and a well -educated girl will find it difficult to get married

There is a misperception that causes parents to discourage girl child education.

Correcting that misperception would require the integration of legal, moral and social norms to improve girl’s education.

Analysis of Legal, Moral and Social Norms (Cont’d…..)

The interconnectedness of legal, moral and social norms is essential to bring about the desired change in the conditions of girls(Mackie,2013)

Legal Norms:◦ Sound legal and policy framework do create an enabling environment

for girl’s education◦ Getting the legal and policy framework right increases the likelihood of

keeping or retaining more girls to school

Moral Norms:◦ can be addressed through the application of a human rights-based

approach to girl’s education programming.◦ have the merit of helping duty bearers avoid a social dilemma in policy

and program implementation. ◦ establish ethics and self –imposed consciousness to do what is good and

right for girls in the society.

Theoretical Framework

Social Norms: Important to challenge social norms that have negative impact on girl’s education.

Is there a Social Norm in Girl’s education?

◦ parents are not sending their girls to schools because of a deep rooted misperception of a woman’s role in the society. This misperception says that men are the breadwinners for the families, and every girl must get married early enough to have children and to take care of the husband.

This misperception reveals two types of behaviours from families. One is the negative behaviour and the other one is the healthier/protective behaviour.

Negative behaviours are amplified while healthier or protective behaviours are neglected or /underestimated.

Theoretical Framework (Cont’d…)

A Case of self-fulfilling prophesy because the more girls believe in that misperception, the more it becomes a reality for them, the more they end up getting married before the age of 18. This cultural practice creates a misperception that turns into a self-fulfilling belief or prophesy.

It is also a case of pluralist ignorance because individual families are aligning their attitudes, behaviours and practices with misperceived norms or values (Bicchieri, 2013). because they incorrectly perceive they will be the only ones with well-educated girls and it will be difficult to find grooms.

it appears that cultural and social norms are highly influential in shaping people’s behaviour. More importantly, social norms can make or break a public value such as girl’s education. Therefore, it is advisable to encourage every effort to mitigate the negative effects of social norms on girl’s education

Theoretical Framework(Cont’d…)

A social norms approach Is a way of correcting misperceptions that influence people’s behaviour.

What is the sustainable solution ?

◦ is to act on legal and policy responses, and on Community-based interventions, which are good enough to lead to a gradual change of deep rooted cultural Norms and practices that are negatively affecting girl’s education.

Way forward

The expected change is a twofold way: The first way is to develop a state policy framework in a manner that will address both legal (accountability) and moral (a sense of moral obligation and commitment) norms.

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) is expected to be an effective incentive that generate quick wins

CCT must be aligned with federal government social protection systems to ensure sustainable outcomes for girl child.

The second way is to work with key community influential leaders, private sector, community-based organizations to promote positive social change at individual and household level.

Way forward (Cont’d…)

I am a Happy Girl through UNICEF NIGERIA Support- GEP !

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