Findings From the Global Early Adolescent Study
These studies from throughout the world further advance our understanding of the role that gender plays for boys and girls during early adolescence, and how social and country contexts support gender inequalities in different ways during early adolescence. If not addressed before or during adolescence, when gender may be more fluid, these inequalities will only increase gender-based health disparities throughout the lifespan. Another concern raised by Saewyc is the way that gender has been constructed and reinforced as binary, which is a challenge for the 2% or larger portion adolescents who are gender-diverse, transgender, nonbinary, or intersex adolescents and who have not been included in the present studies. Even with these limitations, the articles in this supplement on the GEAS provide evidence that gender norms can be measured, that adolescents and communities from around the world can be engaged in critically important investigative studies, and that now is the critical time to move forward with preventive interventions aimed at gender norms before and during adolescence.