'If you speak your mind, they judge'
Exploring opportunities for and challenges to adolescent voice and agency in Gaza
Abstract
This briefing summarises findings from a Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) mixed methods research study to explore the patterning of adolescent voice and agency in the Gaza Strip. Drawing on the responses of approximately 240 adolescents and 70 service providers, it pays particular attention to how those patterns are shaped by gender relations and gender norms.
Overall, our findings suggest that despite recent progress, adolescents in Gaza remain profoundly restricted by age-hierarchies that reserve the right to speak and act for adults. Adolescent girls, who are also disadvantaged by the region’s strict gender norms, have particularly limited access to mobility, information, and participation. We found, for example, that while all adolescents were generally allowed to access school, mosques, and empowerment programming run by NGOs, girls—but not boys—were largely prohibited from occupying other public spaces. Girls’ more limited mobility also impacted their access to information, with many relying on television and the internet (despite parents’ heavy policing). Spaces for adolescent decision-making were particularly bounded, with few young people—again particularly girls—able to meaningfully participate at home, at school, or in the community.
This brief is an output of the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) programme.
Citation
Hamad, B. A., Gercama, I. and Jones, N. (2017) ‘If you speak your mind, they judge’: exploring opportunities for and challenges to adolescent voice and agency in Gaza. London: Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence.