Studies suggest that culturally-influenced concepts of gender role Essay

Studies suggest that culturally-influenced concepts of gender role norms are associated with health - Essay Example ever, argue that women can become economically empowered through microfinance initiatives and be able to realize improvements in self-confidence and esteem, solve household conflicts as well as participating in decision making (p. 1795). Conversely, through their IMAGE study, the researchers argue that microfinance interventions empowers women economically and helps to reduce sexual IPV or physical violence by enabling them to challenge gender violence, demand better treatment, leave violent relationships, mobilize community groupings to denounce gender-based violence, in addition to, addressing the problem of HIV/AIDS infections (P. 1798). On the other hand, Pulerwitz et al. (2015) argues that, â€Å"Certain gender norms—or social expectations about men’s and women’s appropriate roles, rights, and responsibilities—have been shown to be associated with the risk of IPV as well as the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs)† (p. 132). However, through interventions aimed at addressing inequitable gender norms, reductions in violence and positive health outcomes can be realized (P. 132). This can be realized by incorporating boys and men in initiatives aimed at shunning inequitable gender norms by changing their attitudes and beliefs, as well as the need for inclusive household decision-making (p. 135). The emic knowledge is predominant in cultural setups and is guided by the people`s beliefs, meaning and is determined by the local customs or norms. In the African American society, there exist MSN, who are men who have sex with other men. The emic approach can help in carrying out an investigation into the cultural factors contributing to MSN that has led to the widespread of HIV/AIDS among African American men. Taking an insider’s perspective, it is possible to understand gender norms and be able to distinguish appropriate gender roles, responsibilities and rights for each sex (Pulerwitz et al., 2015). Thus, using the emic approach the