addressing gender-based violence through usaid's health ... - IGWG

Youth Programs
Reasons WHY youth programs should
address gender-based violence
Substantial proportions of girls and young women
experience physical and sexual violence in nearly every
geographical setting (Krug et al., 2002). Surveys among
sexually experienced adolescent girls in countries
around the world have found rates of forced sexual
debut ranging from 7 percent in New Zealand to 46
percent in the Caribbean (Heise and Garcia-Moreno,
2002), and these rates are likely to be underreported.
Physical violence by intimate partners often begins
Selected reasons why youth programs
should address gender-based violence
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Substantial proportions of girls and young women
experience forced sexual debut, child sexual
abuse, and other forms of sexual violence in
virtually every geographical setting.
Physical violence by intimate partners often begins
within the first years of dating and marriage.
Sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence
has been linked to a host of poor health
consequences, including unintended pregnancy,
abortion, depression, and STI/HIV transmission.
Survivors of sexual abuse face a higher risk of
substance abuse, multiple sexual partners, and
inability to negotiate contraception.
Youth reproductive health programs cannot
assume that sexual activity is always voluntary or
consensual.
Ignoring gender-based violence can jeopardize the
effectiveness of interventions, such as prevention
of unintended pregnancy and STI/HIV.
Youth represents an ideal opportunity for GBV
prevention because attitudes and beliefs about
gender norms and violence are still forming.
There is an urgent need to improve the
institutional response to girls and young women
who experience violence—particularly sexual
violence.
Source: Krug et al., 2002.
within the first few years of dating and marriage, and
young married women are particularly vulnerable
in some settings. The consequences of violence and
abuse for the health and development of girls and
young women are considerable. For example, sexual
coercion and abuse has been linked to unintended
pregnancy, early childbearing, abortion, substance
abuse, depression, suicide, and STI/HIV transmission.
Unfortunately, the response from families, schools,
healthcare providers, law enforcement, and social
services is often poor or nonexistent.
Many reproductive health programs for youth—
particularly those devoted to preventing unintended
pregnancy and HIV transmission—often promote
“responsible” decisionmaking, without acknowledging
the extent to which sexual and reproductive
behaviors and outcomes are affected by violence and
coercion. This should change in order to improve the
effectiveness of these programs.
Moreover, adolescence is a time in life when attitudes
and beliefs are still forming, and it appears to be easier
to change norms and attitudes about gender equity and
nonviolence among youth than among older women
and men. Thus, youth represents a major opportunity
for preventing gender-based violence.
HOW youth programs can address genderbased
violence
1) Require all reproductive health programming
for youth to address sexual coercion and abuse.
Reproductive health programs for youth cannot
assume that sexual activity is always voluntary or free
from coercion. Providing information, promoting
“responsible” decisionmaking, or encouraging
abstinence alone is not enough given what is known
about the prevalence and patterns of sexual violence
among young people. Sexual and reproductive health
programs need to address gender equitable norms,
power imbalances within relationships, nonviolence,
and negotiation skills among both girls and boys.
Part II-E
Youth Programs
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