What do other men think? Understanding (mis)perceptions of peer gender role ideology among young Tanzanian men

Abstract

Peer influence in adolescence and early adulthood is critical to the formation of beliefs about appropriate behaviour for each gender. Complicating matters, recent studies suggest that men overestimate peer support for inequitable gender norms. Combined with social conformity, this susceptibility to ‘norm misperception’ may represent a barrier to women's empowerment. However, why men misperceive peer beliefs remains unclear. Working in an urbanizing Tanzanian community where previous research has documented overestimation of peer support for inequitable gender norms, we used focus groups and participant observation to investigate how young men (aged 18‐30) forge perceptions about their peers. Men characterized their community as undergoing a transition to more equitable gender norms owing to urbanization, globalization, and interactions with external agencies and different ethnicities. This change introduces novel diversity and reinforces uncertainty about prevailing beliefs. Confidence in the discernibility of peer beliefs hinged on whether associated behaviours were visible in the public domain or expressed within the private affairs of women and men. Furthermore, men acknowledged intentionally obscuring behaviour deemed supportive of women to portray ideals of masculine strength. These results suggest that misperception of peer gender role ideology is pronounced during periods of rapid cultural transition and illuminates the mechanisms at play.