Gender-Equitable Men Scale

It was developed and first validated with young men, and male attitudes are its primary focus, but adapted versions have been administered to women and mixed-sex samples. When used beyond the original population, the scale should be re-examined for reliability and validity in that group, because item relevance and response patterns can differ for women and across age groups.

Gender norms are culturally specific: a statement that captures an inequitable norm in one society may be irrelevant or read differently in another. Direct translation can therefore distort meaning and reliability. Best practice is to adapt items to local norms, pre-test wording, and re-validate the scale's factor structure and reliability in each new setting before using scores to evaluate programmes.

The GEM Scale targets attitudes toward concrete gender norms in domains like sexual health, violence, and care work, and was built for programme evaluation in global-health settings. The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory measures a theoretical structure of prejudice — hostile and benevolent sexism — rooted in social psychology. They overlap in assessing gender attitudes but differ in theoretical framing, item content, and typical use, so the choice depends on whether the goal is norm-focused programme evaluation or prejudice measurement.