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AcknowledgementsThanks to May Rihani for advice and supervision,Jim Silk for support and direction, and BobBernstein for making this fellowship possible. Iwould like to thank Joan Fiator for invaluableinput at all stages, as well as Léa Gaba Afouda,Agnes Ali, Francy Hays, Bienvenu Marcos, GiselleMitton, and Claude Diogo and family. I would alsolike to thank Joshua Muskin, Alexandra Orsini,and Setcheme Mongbo at World Learning whomade this research possible, and in particular theBeninese students, teachers, and parents who wereinterviewed. In addition, my gratitude goes toStephanie Psaki, who coordinated the productionof this publication.Brent WibleAfter graduating from Yale Law School, BrentWible worked at the Academy for EducationalDevelopment from 2003-2004 as a Robert L.Bernstein Fellow in International Human Rights.He worked under the supervision of May Rihani inthe Center for Gender Equity at AED.Founded in 1961, the Academy for EducationalDevelopment (www.aed.org) is an independent,nonprofit organization committed to solvingcritical social problems and building the capacityof individuals, communities, and institutions tobecome more self-sufficient. AED works in all themajor areas of human development, with a focuson improving education, health, and economicopportunities for the least advantaged in theUnited States and developing countries throughoutthe world.December, 2004
Gender-based Violence:A Problem in African SchoolsAt the World Education Forum in 2000, UNESCO’s director for basic educationemphasized that girls often face an “unsafe environment” in schoolsaround the world, one that includes sexual harassment. Acknowledgingthis concern, the World Bank announced a new policy in 2002 to considersexual harassment in its education projects. While not exclusively or evenpredominantly an African issue, evidence suggests that sexual harassmentin schools is a growing problem across the continent. In response to thesefears, Education International, an organization dedicated to social justice ineducation, organized a regional forum on education in Benin in 2002 to addressabuse in African schools. This attention was provoked by a growingbody of quantitative and qualitative evidence documenting gender-basedviolence in schools across the continent.Gender-based violence is a global problem that causes more poor health anddeath than a host of other physical and psychological maladies combined,but it is only slowly being addressed by national public health policies andactions. Even more difficult to bring to the forefront is the issue of genderbasedviolence and sexual harassment in the one arena generally consideredsafe: the school. Both boys and girls are victims, but groping, bullying,verbal abuse, and rape are most often suffered by girls and young women.Girls are aggressively propositioned by male teachers and students in schooland by “sugar daddies” outside of school. Sexual violence and harassmentof girls is a direct cause of underachievement, dropout, damage to physicaland psychological health, early and unintended pregnancies, and STI transmission,including HIV/AIDS. In developing countries, about 40 percent ofgirls who start school will drop out before completing five years. Frequently,the reason is gender-based violence or the fear of sexual violence. Theconsequences are loss of educational opportunity, stagnation of girls’ schoolcompletion rates, and resulting loss of national productivity.Research on this issue is yielding startling results. Sexual abuse of schoolgirlsis institutionalized and pervasive. (Abuse of boys has received little researchattention.) Girls in every country studied face harassment, violence,rape, and the threat of rape from male students and from teachers. Girlsleave school out of fear, or do not participate in class in order not to attract1
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