Exploring gender-based violence experiences of secondary school girls in Mathare informal settlements Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is part of the hard realities of living in an informal settlement. The United Nations reports it as one of the serious human rights violations, with more than 30% of the females experiencing it. Vulnerability to GBV in these locales is even increased when one is younger, as is the case with secondary school girls, with statistics indicating that they have the highest recorded number of cases of GBV. Numerous policies to mitigate this are in place, yet the vice is on the increase. Most data on GBV that exist focus on adult females, yet the vice can be traced in the early years of the females’ lives, and later ignored and thus normalizing the malpractice. Besides, this vice could be propagated by congested housing in informal settlements in urban areas, coupled with broken moral fabric in traditional families. The study, therefore, set out to explore secondary school girls' experiences of gender-based violence in Mathare informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. The objectives of the study were: to explore the forms of gender-based violence experienced by the girls; to establish the girls' responses to these acts; to explore schools’ responses to gender-based violence cases, and to find out from the girls how secondary schools can improve their support systems. The social feminist theory by Crenshaw and Janes, and the social support theory by Drennon-Gala and Cullen guided the qualitative study, which employed phenomenological research design within the interpretivist paradigm. The study involved 28 participants (girls), who were selected through snowball sampling, from two public secondary schools in Mathare informal settlements selected purposively. Data were generated through participatory visual methods (drawings), which were used to explore girls’ experiences of GBV. Data emanating from discussions of the drawing were thematically analyzed. The findings revealed that the girls experienced physical, sexual, psychological, and verbal abuse. The girls’ responses to the violence included resisting, reporting, seeking help, and internalizing feelings. On the other hand, some girls did not report, but rather remained silent. Further, the girls revealed that their responses to school depended on their knowledge of response strategies, whether teachers kept the matter in confidence or not, and the fears that the response was perceived to bring along. Some girls reported that the key school response was often guidance and counseling while others reported that the school was unable to help them. Several participants reported a lack of belief by the teachers upon reporting their experiences, perceiving the experiences as normal occurrences. To improve school support for them the girls shared that schools should formulate clear reporting strategies and introduce whole-school awareness training. Thus, the study concluded that girls in informal settlements experienced GBV in varied forms and that sexual abuse was experienced the most; that teachers reacted “retrogressively” to abused girls’ cases; that those who reported their experiences were casually treated to a counseling session by the school; thus, that schools should strive to offer adequate support to girls who experience it. The study therefore, recommended that schools should have a mechanism to identify girls experiencing GBV, understand their plight, and offer specialized trauma counseling services. Furthermore, that schools should organise whole school development sessions where teachers, boys and girls are trained on general sexuality, as well as GBV awareness and possible intervention strategies. The study findings could be significant to secondary school girls, teachers, the Ministry of Education and other researchers.