Using body mapping to explore gender with adolescents in Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

ABSTRACT Young women and girls in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India, face gender inequalities, which threaten their health and well-being. This study used body mapping, a visual participatory research method, to learn from adolescents ages 15 to 17 living in Lucknow slums about how gender norms affect their daily experiences. Forty adolescents participated in body mapping. Their body maps and narratives about those maps demonstrate that starting in adolescence, family and community members strongly enforce divergent gender norms for girls and boys. Girls face restrictions on their clothing, mobility, and education, whereas boys have comparative freedom in these domains. Girls experience persistent public harassment by boys and men, severely constraining their ability to move freely in public spaces. In contrast, the school was a setting where adolescent girls and boys experience more relaxed gender norms. Overall, this study describes the link between gender norms, health, and well-being for adolescents. It also illustrates the value of participatory and adolescent-friendly research methods for exploring gender norms among adolescent boys and girls in India. Finally, it indicates that multi-system approaches are needed to address gender-related inequalities in health and well-being.