Africa
Sexual or gender based violence can encompass anything from verbal harassment and social pressure to physical force. In Africa, women are abused and mistreated by men. They often do not get any help, as stories are made to protect the unspeakable crimes that happen to women, or are looked down upon in their community when speaking up. According to a report done on sexual violence by Africa Renewal, in Sierra Leone in 1991, a 19 year old woman was followed by a group of 10 rebels. She was abused by all 10 rebels and left hopeless. Her marital life has been affected as a result because her husband knows she is barren. Her story like others is demonstration of one of the many problems in Africa. That being that the government or authority does not have strict enough laws to protect women from these types of injustices.
Not only does gender based violence occur in certain regions of Africa but in all. In Sub-Saharan Africa from different research compiled together by Advocates for Youth, different areas such as Ugandan(40%), Tanzanian(60%) and Kenya(42%) have reported cases of physical violence.
Gender based violence has many underlying causes including: economics, social status, and cultural morals. In many parts of Africa, the culture shames women for speaking up about acts of violence done towards them. In Zimbabwe, rape cases are settled often when the perpetrator pays the woman's father or marries the girl to bring less shame to the family. In Kenya, the July 1991 St. Kizito tragedy which left over 70 girls raped, 19 others killed and scores of others injured by their male colleagues. The government did not treat this human tragedy as a human rights issue that required review of existing legislation in this area. Some even defended this as inhuman action, arguing that the boys meant no harm.
In Kenya, things are no different. One in four women are beaten by their partners and 46% of women aged 15 and older have experienced rape. Sadly, this is happening commonly from relatives or close friends of the victim. Acts are mad to fix this issue such as one made in 2006 to give perpetrators stiffer penalties. However, these laws are rarely enforced because it is still taking place regularly.
This is one of the reasons why gender based violence goes unnoticed or hidden from getting attention to the fact that these things are not okay. Young women in different parts of Africa are shamed when they go out and try to speak up about what has happened to them.
However, some women are involved in protests and many laws geared towards the betterment of women's rights. Some of these organizations are the UN, APROFES, and the United Nations Conventions.
Not only does gender based violence occur in certain regions of Africa but in all. In Sub-Saharan Africa from different research compiled together by Advocates for Youth, different areas such as Ugandan(40%), Tanzanian(60%) and Kenya(42%) have reported cases of physical violence.
Gender based violence has many underlying causes including: economics, social status, and cultural morals. In many parts of Africa, the culture shames women for speaking up about acts of violence done towards them. In Zimbabwe, rape cases are settled often when the perpetrator pays the woman's father or marries the girl to bring less shame to the family. In Kenya, the July 1991 St. Kizito tragedy which left over 70 girls raped, 19 others killed and scores of others injured by their male colleagues. The government did not treat this human tragedy as a human rights issue that required review of existing legislation in this area. Some even defended this as inhuman action, arguing that the boys meant no harm.
In Kenya, things are no different. One in four women are beaten by their partners and 46% of women aged 15 and older have experienced rape. Sadly, this is happening commonly from relatives or close friends of the victim. Acts are mad to fix this issue such as one made in 2006 to give perpetrators stiffer penalties. However, these laws are rarely enforced because it is still taking place regularly.
This is one of the reasons why gender based violence goes unnoticed or hidden from getting attention to the fact that these things are not okay. Young women in different parts of Africa are shamed when they go out and try to speak up about what has happened to them.
However, some women are involved in protests and many laws geared towards the betterment of women's rights. Some of these organizations are the UN, APROFES, and the United Nations Conventions.