Gender-Based Violence
| |
| The Effects of Gender-Based Violence on the Sexual Health of Women and Girls
|
 Unintended pregnancies that can lead to abortion as a result of the lack of access to family planning and contraceptives
Complications from frequent, high-risk pregnancies and lack of follow-up care
Sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS
Persistent gynecological problems such as obstetric fistula that results from obstructed labor
Psychological problems |
|
| |
|
Gender-based violence (GBV) can pervade a woman’s entire life cycle, beginning with selective abortion of a female fetus to female genital mutilation/cutting to intimate partner violence. GBV is usually perpetrated by men against women and girls, and it can take many forms – sexual abuse, physical violence, emotional or psychological abuse, verbal abuse, economic abuse or beatings during pregnancy. GBV jeopardizes a woman's health and well-being and detracts from her reproductive health.
The consequences of GBV can be fatal, such as homicide, suicide, and AIDS-related deaths; or nonfatal, such as chronic pain syndromes, traumatic injury, or traumatic gynecological fistula. The effect of GBV on women’s sexual and reproductive health are well documented and may occur through direct pathways, such as when women are forced to have sex, as well as through indirect pathways, such as childhood sexual abuse that sometimes leads to greater sexual risk-taking during adolescence and adulthood.
USAID supports stand-alone activities as well as programs that integrate anti-GBV activities and messages into broader health efforts. Emphasis is placed on prevention interventions such as community mobilization and behavior change communication activities to address and transform the underlying norms that perpetuate GBV. By addressing GBV, health programs may be able to enhance their effectiveness, enable women who have experienced violence to benefit from existing programs, and prevent the escalation of such violence. USAID recognizes the importance of policy and advocacy initiatives to ensure that plans and policies are informed by relevant GBV data, confront the gender inequities that condone GBV, and allocate needed resources for education activities and services.
What USAID Is Doing to Stop Gender Violence
- The Capacity Project – Rwanda
Workplace violence against women is more common in some? female-dominated professions, such as nursing, than in other jobs. The USAID-funded Capacity Project studied violence in Rwanda’s health sector – including forms, causes, victim and perpetrator characteristics, and consequences – and found that gender discrimination and inequity contribute significantly to the problem. Almost 40 percent of health workers surveyed had been victims of some form of workplace violence in the previous year, with verbal abuse most prevalent, followed by bullying, sexual harassment, physical assault, and sexual assault. The findings suggest that promoting gender equality at health workplaces can reduce levels of violence, so The Capacity Project is working across public and private sectors to develop a national workplace safety policy for Rwanda that directly addresses gender discrimination.
- The Twubakane Project – Rwanda
The Twubakane Project assessed health care facilities in Rwanda to determine if three services – GBV, antenatal care (ANC), and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) – could be integrated effectively in three districts of the country. It found that PMTCT clients face multiple “moments of risk” for emotional, sexual, economic, and physical violence before, during, and after ANC or PMTCT consultations, and recommended that the Ministry of Health (MOH) implement a decentralized model of integrated GBV/ANC/PMTCT service delivery.
Follow-up activities included helping the MOH revise sexual violence protocols to address all the forms of GBV Rwandan women face and become more client friendly; providing service providers in the study sites with GBV sensitization and skills training; providing health facilities with GBV-related materials and a community resources directory; developing facility protocols for counseling and referral of clients who live with violence; supporting community mobilization to prevent GBV at the local level; training police and judges; strengthening collaboration between the health and criminal justice systems; and linking PMTCT service sites with microenterprise projects to support women’s economic independence.
- GBV and Contraception Use – Bolivia
A USAID-supported study in Bolivia found that GBV negatively impacts a woman’s use of contraception. It found that women are deterred from using family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) services not only by fear of intimate-partner violence but also by stigma from health care providers and other community members who might judge them adversely for using contraception. Based on this finding, Bolivian policymakers and health professionals plan to advocate for greater attention to providing RH services to women who are victims of intimate-partner violence. The police, judiciary, schools, social services, and eight USAID/Bolivia implementing partners currently are engaging municipal governments in improving their response to GBV within the context of FP/RH services.
- Healthy Images of Manhood – Kenya and Tanzania
Healthy Images of Manhood (HIM) is an innovative community-based approach to engaging men to mitigate GBV, counter stigma, and reconsider rigid roles that prevent them and their partners from using FP/RH and HIV services. This comprehensive
USAID-funded health education intervention encompasses a training workshop and the development of action plans for outreach activities, a supportive supervision system, ongoing monthly sessions for capacity building, and a monitoring and evaluation system that provides data for planning and decision making. The HIM approach has been applied in the Kakuma refugee camp in the North Eastern Province of Kenya to create 30 young male “gender champions” working to sensitize and mobilize the community on GBV and reproductive health. It was also used in a work-based setting at Unilever Tea Tanzania
Limited to decrease sexual violence and increase men’s use of health services, especially HIV care and treatment.
- BRIDGE – West and Central Africa
The USAID-funded BRIDGE program recently held an intensive two-week workshop to help participants develop skills for policy-level communication and advocacy on issues surrounding GBV. Program officials, researchers, and women’s advocates from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Rwanda, and Senegal worked on improving their communication strategies to advocate for better policies and programs. Subsequently, participants are now leading campaigns against GBV in their own countries and reaching increasing numbers of policymakers and civil society leaders. BRIDGE also convenes activities and disseminates information to help field-based programs better develop, implement, and monitor GBV programs.
USAID Issue Briefs
Related Links
|
