Towards gender equality: The GEMS journey thus far. An evaluation report of the Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS) program in Jharkhand.

This report provides an evaluation of the Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS) program and is designed to better understand the impact of the program on girls’ and boys’ views of gender equity and violence in Jharkhand. GEMS builds off the idea that the role of schools in perpetuating gender stereotype is often unrecognized but also that schools present an ideal social institution in which to use to begin to combat those stereotypes that underpin violent behavior and acceptance of violence. In the GEMS program teachers are trained both to implement the program and in the skills they need to uncover their own biases. To evaluate the effectiveness of the program ICRW interviewed more than 3000 boys and girls from the 80 schools where GEMS was implemented. ICRW also conducted in-depth surveys with 60 students from intervention and comparison schools and spoke to teachers and principals to better understand the impacts of the program. This report contains the main findings from the study.