Motherhood in Childhood

t Guatemala's
Survivors Foundation
counsels girls and
women who have
been sexually
assaulted.
© UNFPA Guatemala
Analysis of DHS surveys from 14 countries
shows that the proportion of young women
between 15 and 24 years old whose first sexual
experience—within or before marriage—
was non-consensual ranged widely from 2
per cent in Azerbaijan to 64 per cent in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (UNFPA
and Population Council, 2009).
Likewise, a World Health Organization
multi-country study in 10 countries found
that the share of women reporting forced first
sex ranged from about 1 per cent in Japan
and Serbia to about 30 per cent in Bangladesh
(Garcia-Moreno et al., 2005).
Forced sex also occurs within marriage. For
example, an analysis of DHS surveys from 27
countries found that the proportion of young
women, ages 15 to 24, who reported sexual
violence perpetrated by their husbands ranged
from 1 per cent in Nigeria to 33 per cent in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (UNFPA
and Population Council, 2009).
Indeed, as a study in Nyeri, Kenya, among
married and unmarried young women between
the ages of 10 and 24 showed, married females
were at even higher risk of experiencing sexual
coercion than their unmarried, sexually active
counterparts (Erulkar, 2004).
Contrary to popular belief, perpetrators of
sexual violence are typically boys and men
known to their adolescent victims: husbands,
intimate partners, acquaintances or those in
positions of authority. This finding is observed
across all regions of the world (Jejeebhoy and
Bott, 2005; Jejeebhoy et al., 2005; Bott et al.,
2012; Erulkar, 2004).
An estimated one in five adolescent girls
experiences abuse during pregnancy (World
Health Organization, 2007; Parker et al.,
1994). Twenty-one per cent of adolescents
experience intimate-partner violence within
three months of delivery. Physical abuse and
violence during pregnancy have been recognized
as important risk factors for poor health
in both mothers and infants (World Health
Organization, 2007; Newberger et al., 1992).
Coerced sex is “the act of forcing or attempting
to force another individual through
violence, threats, verbal insistence, deception,
cultural expectations or economic circumstances
to engage in sexual behaviour against her/his
will” (Heise et al., 1995). Several national and
sub-national studies suggest that between 15
per cent and 45 per cent of young women who
had engaged in premarital sex reported at least
one coercive experience.
40 CHAPTER 3: PRESSURES FROM MANY DIRECTIONS