Building Positive Attitudes
Towards Gender Equality: A Baseline Survey of Gender Quality Action
Learning M Abdul Alim, Ahmed Tareq Rashid December - 2005 |
The study aims to find out the pre-intervention status on
knowledge, perception and attitude of rural people towards gender
relations. A survey was conducted on 803 respondents in eight upazilas of
Netrokona and Kishoregonj districts. Respondents include rich, middle,
lower and ultra poor. All the samples for the last two groups, 20% from
middle, and 10% from the first group were randomly selected. The study
dealt with different themes of general perception, discrimination,
empowerment, violence against women, and marriage. The findings indicate
that the knowledge of the respondents about nutrition, education, age of
voting, and marriage were satisfactory. The gender perception of both male
and female were influenced by prevailing patriarchal norms in rural areas.
Although the respondents show more favorable attitude towards reducing
gender discrimination and marriage related issues, the attitude towards
gender roles in society was comparatively less positive. The study further
shows that the level of education, and to a lesser extent, economic
background were the primary determinants in shaping gender attitude and
perception, while age and NGO membership did not appear to have much
impact on views of gender
equality. |