The Executive Director of Development Impact Pathfinders Initiative (Devimpath), Glory Amara Brendan-Otuojor was invited by Women Environment Programme (WEP) to make a presentation on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) during Urgent Action FundAfrica’s Information session held on the 14 th of December 2023.
As a preamble during the presentation, Glory shared statistics on GBV/SRHR which shows that there are gender variations in access to education, school-related GBV, violence against children, early/forced marriage, FGM, violence against people with disability. For instance, according to UN Women, 1 in 3 women aged 15 years and older have been subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner, non-partner or both, at least once in their lifetime globally and in Nigeria 30% of women and girls aged 15-49 have experienced sexual abuse, 31% of women have experienced physical violence since age 15 with 14% of women experiencing physical violence in 2017 alone (UNFPA). She notes that during the pandemic, between January and May 2020, the Nigerian Police confirmed it received 717 reported cases of rape, 7,349 Incidents of GBV reported between January to July 2020. Sexual and physical violence accounts for 72.3% of violence reported (GBV Factsheet –Spotlight Initiative Nigeria).
On education, Glory informed participants that 35% of women in Nigeria have never attended school, nearly one-third of women age 15-49 in Nigeria have no education compared to 22% of men age 15-49 and 82% of women aged 20-24 who were married by the age of 18 had no education while only 13% of them have at least finished secondary school (Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, NDHS 2018). She further informed participants that according to SRGBV Factsheet for Nigeria contained in the Violence Against Children Surveys (VACS) Report 2014, 44% of the students who experienced one or more forms of physical and sexual violence perpetrated by teachers and/or classmates were girls and 35% were boys and the more girls (18%) than boys (4%) who experienced sexual violence are likely to miss school.
On violence against children, Glory informed participants that according to Together for Girls/UN Girls Education Initiative, 50% of girls and 52% of boys experience physical violence, 25% girls and 11% boys experienced sexual violence and 17% girls and 20% boys experience emotional violence. 25.4% of women were married before they turned 18 years and 56.6% of child marriage occurred in north-east.
Furthermore, she informed the participants that there are 3.2 million persons with disabilities living in Nigeria, of which 1,5 million are women with disabilities (2006 Population and Housing Census) and that women and girls with disabilities in Nigeria are twice more likely to experience gender-based violence than other women.
To further help participants understand GBV, Glory shared information about some basic concepts of gender which include gender roles, sex roles, gender equality, gender equity, gender sensitivity, gender mainstreaming, etc. She further discussed sexuality and gender, emphasizing that sexuality and gender are interrelated and together they affect the ability of men and women to have sexual health and manage their reproductive lives, access to information and health services and their ability to protect themselves. She also defined gender-based violence (GBV) as any harmful act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and that is based on gender differences between males and females, highlighting the different categories of GB to include physical violence, psychological/emotional violence, disability-based violence, sexual violence and harmful practices. She also informed that violence is any act that involves the use of force or power whether implied or real that results in physical, sexual or psychological harm and that violence may not always be physical; it can also be threats of violence, coercion (trickily manipulate somebody to do something against their will), and denying someone their freedom (for no reason) in public or in private life.
Glory also described reproductive health as the state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing in all matters relating to the reproductive system and its functions and processes and that reproductive health implies that adults will have a safe and satisfying sex life and capability to reproduce with freedom to decide if, when and how often they want to do so. Also, that right of men and women to information and access to safe, effective affordable and acceptable methods of family planning and appropriate health care services that will enable women to go through pregnancy and childbirth and also raise healthy infants are embedded in reproductive health. In addition, she described human rights to include right to life, right to equality and right to freedom from all forms of discrimination, right to health care and health protection, right to SHR information and education, etc and also informed participants about laws and policies that are backup framework for intervention and actions against GBV.
In conclusion, Glory stated that strategies to respond to the many forms of gender-based violence must adopt a holistic approach and extended to all sectors. This is why at Devimpath, we are exploring the interlinkages of GBV with sectoral challenges like climate change, water and sanitation, health, food insecurity etc with the aim of deepening conversations and fostering gender-transformative change.
