Gender norms are rules that govern beliefs on how individuals in homes, communities, or institutions should behave (Pearse and Connell, 2015; World Health Organization, 2018; Heise et al., 2019). They shape the life prospects of an individual and have significant implications for both girls and boys. These norms begin in the family by parents and are reinforced by teachers, faith leaders, peers, and exposure to media (Patel et al., 2021).

Gender norms significantly influence the health of young people, as they face diverse expectations within both their homes and society based on their gender (Buller et al., 2016; Basu et al., 2017). These expectations start early and strongly shape their attitudes, opportunities, experiences, and behaviors with significant health consequences (Closson et al., 2023), such as child marriage, unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infection, exposure to domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and depression (Blum et al., 2017).

Gender-transformative approaches (GTAs), which seek to transform harmful gender norms and power imbalances to promote more gender equitability (World Health Organization, 2011), have been successfully carried out (Stewart et al., 2021) in order to address harmful gender norms and practices (Levy et al., 2020). The benefits of successful GTA programs (Levy et al., 2020) include reductions in gender-based violence (Gupta and Sandhya, 2020) and improvements in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes such as family planning use and contraceptive use (Dagadu et al., 2022).

In Nigeria, evidence shows that gender inequality and social norms that favor men over women remain a major concern. Women are often portrayed as inherently inferior to men, leading to the establishment of rigid gender roles. This arbitrary social construction places men at the forefront, dominating economic and political spheres, while women are confined to domestic roles, primarily engaged in tasks considered menial and lacking in economic and political empowerment (Ajala, 2016).

In 2018, 13.2% of women aged 15–49 years reported that they had been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former sexual partner (Nigeria Demographic Health Survey Report, 2018). Moreover, women of reproductive age (15–49 years) often face barriers to their SRH and rights: despite progress, in 2018, only 35.6% of women had their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods (UN Women, 2021).

To address these gender norm issues, and to improve the health and wellbeing of young people, it is necessary to understand the different beliefs of household heads about gender equity and the rights and privileges of young people.

The household is key in society and a head is usually responsible for the household but this is not necessarily the oldest member of the household and may be a male or a female. However, Nigerian household heads are usually male, with more female household heads seen in urban areas (NPC and ICF, 2019).

In developing nations such as Nigeria, there is a widely held belief that the gender of the household head exerts a significant influence on the decision-making processes within the household, including preferences for certain individuals and behaviors. This influence extends to favoring sons over daughters (Morakinyo et al., 2015; Sandström and Vikström, 2015).

Hence, household heads need to be actively engaged in interventions that positively transform negative beliefs on gender equity to improve overall SRH outcomes of adults and young people.

Gender norms are strongly internalized by young people as they grow up within their households and society at large to become men and women (Blum et al., 2017) and this represents a gap of opportunity to promote gender-equitable attitudes before such attitudes solidify, in turn contributing to adverse gender inequality in society. Most studies on household heads focus mainly on female-headed households, household heads’ choice of social amenities, and the social and economic challenges of household heads (Nwaka et al., 2016, 2020; Aryal et al., 2019).

However, there is a paucity of knowledge on the attitude of household heads toward young boys and young girls on the issue of gender norms since the household heads ultimately are responsible for the upbringing of young boys and girls.

This study aimed to assess the gender norm attitudes of male and female heads of households regarding the rights, privileges, and equity promotion of young boys and young girls and also identify factors associated with the gender norm attitudes of household heads toward young people within the household.

The study hypothesis is that socio-demographic characteristics influence the attitudes of male and female heads of households toward the rights, privileges, and equity promotion of young boys and girls, with factors such as age, education level, religious affiliation, and wealth index playing significant roles.

The findings showed that the respondents were 52.89% women and 47.11% men (Table 1). The heads of households with an age group 50 years and below were 71.24%, while the heads of households with an age group 50 years and above were 28.76%, with a mean and standard deviation of 45.50 years and 11.14, respectively.

Approximately 83.51% of male heads of households significantly (p-value = 0.05) disagreed with the statement “the most important reason that sons should be more educated than daughters, is so that they can better look after their parents when they are older” (Table 2).

Approximately 62.81% of female heads of household significantly (p-value = 0.02) disagreed with the statement “A good woman never questions her husband’s opinions, even if she is not sure she agrees with them” (Table 3).

Female heads of households aged 50 years and below with an odds ratio of 0.47 (p-value = 0.02), suggest that they were 0.47 times more likely to have a positive attitude toward the rights and privileges of young girls (Table 4). Furthermore, female household heads who completed secondary education with an odds ratio of 0.41 (p-value = 0.01) indicate that they were 0.41 times more likely to have a positive attitude toward promoting girl equity.

The finding shows that male heads of households who are Christian Roman Catholic with an odds ratio (0.20 p-value = 0.04) are 0.20 times more likely to have a positive attitude toward promoting girl equity (Table 5).

This study utilized a quantitative research method to assess gender differences in attitudes of heads of households on the rights and privileges of young people and promote girl equity as well. Issues on promoting girl equity, age, and religious affiliation were factors associated with attitudes of male heads of household, while education and wealth index were factors associated with attitudes of female heads of household. Our findings highlight that gender norm attitudes are affected by different factors among male household heads and female ones.

The gender-equitable attitudes seen among female household heads toward the gender norm “that a good woman never questions her husband’s opinions, even if she is not sure she agrees with him” could be influenced by their level of education and career aspiration, as a study carried out on adolescent girls (AGs) revealed that AGs who disagreed with their family member’s belief “that a wife should always obey her husband” were those who had positive education and career aspirations (Closson et al., 2023). In addition, a previous study found protective effects on young people’s health outcomes when a woman can make decisions alone or jointly with her partner (Singh et al., 2015). The reason is that mothers, especially those who give close attention to their children, are typically the first to identify their health outcomes/challenges (Ellis et al., 2013; Dougherty et al., 2020).

Household heads (female and male) disagreed that the most important reason that sons should be more educated than daughters is so that they can better look after their parents when they are older. However, further analysis (regression) showed that gender inequity persists among female and male household heads. Heads of households (female and male) who had formal education and those who had no formal education were more likely to have negative attitudes toward promoting girl equity.

In the context of traditional patriarchal and patriarchal systems, sons are considered to have unique value, as they inherit the family name and property and represent an economic value premium to the family and parents (Sandström and Vikström, 2015; Tilt et al., 2019). This gender norm influences the negative attitude of both educated and uneducated parents toward promoting girl equity. Studies show that parental behavior changes toward a baby as soon as their sex is known or assigned (Mesman and Groeneveld, 2018). Furthermore, boys are consistently encouraged to be strong and independent, whereas girls are seen as vulnerable, ones that should be subordinate, in need of protection, and not be exposed to society (Mesman and Groeneveld, 2018). These gender norms are internalized by parents and they act on it.

A previous study on female heads of households revealed that younger female household heads complained about the challenge of playing multiple roles (head of household and mother role), which put enormous pressure on them and threatened their physical and mental health, causing them to face physical and mental depreciation (Yoosefi Lebni et al., 2020). This physical and mental depreciation could cause one to be aggressive and display harmful gender norms toward young people. This is similar to our findings, which show that female heads of households aged 50 and below have a negative attitude about the rights and privileges of young girls compared to male household heads. Across the world, women juggle work with family and household care responsibilities, and this has a great effect on the attitude of the female head of household toward young people.

Significantly, male heads of households with the highest wealth index (richest) were 10.46 times more likely to have a positive attitude toward the rights and privileges of young girls than female household heads. In developing countries, it is believed that female-headed households are poorer with lower socioeconomic status and are more vulnerable to income shortages than male-headed households (World Bank, 2018; Nwaka et al., 2020). The reasons for this include women’s disadvantaged positions in terms of limited economic opportunities for asset ownership, the family burden associated with unpaid household work, and gender discrimination in the labor market (Nwaka et al., 2016, 2020; World Bank, 2018; Aryal et al., 2019). These reasons contribute greatly to the gender norm attitude of heads of households, in that the one with the greatest economic benefits, is also expected to have greater opportunity/exposure to positive education which in turn reports in the attitude of the individual. The common issue with gender norms is that ideologies/attitudes are passed down from parents to children, and young people growing up in these environments internalize and act on these norms (Kagesten et al., 2016; Dhar et al., 2020; Patel et al., 2021), which then adversely affect their health behaviors and SRH outcomes.

This study is not without some limitations, as there could be information bias attributable to the sensitive nature of the study. However, research assistants were trained to ensure that a conducive environment and neutral attitude with respondents were maintained. Respondents were assured of the confidentiality of the information they provided. The collection of data from a large population would enable the generalizability of the findings. Researchers could utilize a qualitative research method for an in-depth understanding of these gender norms and attitudes seen among male and female household heads.

Individual and household level characteristics were adversely associated with heads of household attitudes on rights, privileges, and equity promotion for young boys and young girls. The majority of male and female household heads disagreed with the statement “sons need to have a better education than daughters however, female heads of households who have completed tertiary education were less likely tto have a negative attitude toward promoting girl equity.”

There is a need for strategic gender-equitable intervention to address the attitudes of household heads on rights, privileges, and equity promotion for young people across different intersections. To determine similarities and peculiarities, researchers could undertake similar studies in other settings.

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

The studies involving humans were approved by Research and Ethics Committee of Ebonyi State Ministry of Health, with reference number: EBSHREC/07/03/2022-06/02/2026 and, the Health Research Ethics Committee of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu, with reference number: NHREC/05/01/2008B-FWA00002458-IRB00002323. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

OPN: Writing – original draft. CNE: Writing – review & editing. IA:Writing – review & editing. COM: Writing – review & editing. OO: Writing – review & editing.