Violence Against Women in Sub-Saharan Africa
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| Violence Against Women in Sub-Saharan Africa A research report by Sean Callaghan March 2010 1. Introduction 2. Defining Violence Against Women in the African Context 3. Mapping the extent of Violence Against Women in Sub-Saharan Africa 3.1 Intimate Partner Violence 3.2 Female Genital Mutilation 3.3 Sexual Violence 3.4 Forced Sexual Debut 3.5 Conflict Related Violence Against Women 4. Power Dynamics in Relationships 5. The Proposed Strategic Focus of Restored in Sub Saharan Africa 6. African Reference Group 7. Way forward Annexure 1: Afro-centric Theology Annexure 2: Raising Awareness Annexure 3: Social Service Provision Annexure 4: Criminal Justice Reform Annexure 5: Shifting Cultural Norms Annexure 6: Potential Reference Group Members Annexure 7: Extended Contact List Annexure 8: NETACT proposal Annexure 9: Tamar Bible Study Series Annexure 10: Raising Voices Materials 1. Introduction It is acknowledged that for Restored (the proposed Christian movement to end Violence Against Women) to be truly global it will have to adapt to local and regional nuances. This report seeks to identifying the key adaptations that will need to be considered if the movement is to effectively take root in sub-Saharan Africa. 2. Defining Violence Against Women in the African Context There are a number of international, continental and sub-regional protocols that frame the issue of Violence Against Women within the African Context. At an African political level the most important of these is the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa that was adopted in Maputo on 11 July 2003 and entered into force on 25 November 2005. This protocol defines Violence Against Women as: All acts perpetrated against women which cause or could cause them physical, sexual, psychological, and economic harm, including the threat to take such acts; or to undertake the imposition of arbitrary restrictions on or deprivation of fundamental freedoms in private or public life in peace time and during situations of armed conflicts or of war.1 While this protocol and the underlying charter are endorsed by, and often referenced by, the All Africa Council of Churches,2 I struggled to find any reference to the document (or in fact the issues of Violence Against Women) in any of the literature published by The Association of Evangelicals in Africa. 3. Mapping the extent of Violence Against Women in Sub-Saharan Africa Reliable national and continental statistics are hard to find, however, from what one is able to piece together it is evident that violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa is widespread. Moreover, violence against women is often excused as cultural and is at times endorsed (or at best ignored) by the church. In 2005 the World Health Organisation included three African countries (Ethiopia, Namibia and Tanzania) in its Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women. Where appropriate I will include findings from this research in my other general finding. In presenting the extent of the problem I will look briefly at the following five areas:
3.1 Intimate Partner Violence (Domestic Violence) By far the most prevalent issue is that of Intimate Partner Violence. The World Health Organisation defines Intimate Partner Violence as3 “any behaviour within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those in the relationship. Such behaviour includes:
The real issue is that African society (and even women in these contexts) do not necessarily view acts of violence within an intimate relationship as abnormal. Rape within marriage is often considered “impossible” (certainly improbable) and physical abuse is often seen as acceptable disciple. In some contexts one might charaterize “normal” family life as abusive. This obviously results in massive under-reporting of actual abuse. Percentage of women who reported physical violence and sexual violence by an intimate partner4 
Source: Compiled by USAID from various population based studies (1996–2005). Ethiopia: WHOb, 2005; Kenya: Central Bureau for Statistics Kenya and ORC Macro., 2003; Namibia: WHOb, 2005; South Africa: Jewkes et al., 1998 cited in Heise, Ellsberg and Gottoemeller, 1999; Tanzania: WHOb, 2005; Zambia: Central Statistics Office Zambia and ORC Macro, 2003; Zimbabwe: cited in Krug et. al., 2002. The WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women found: ETHIOPIA: 71% of women had experienced either physical (50%) or sexual (59%) violence by a partner. Furthermore, 39% of these women had never spoken to anyone about the violence and more than a third of those who had remained silent said they considered the violence to be “normal.” NAMIBIA: 36% of women had experienced either physical (31%) or sexual (17%) violence by a partner. Furthermore, 21% of these women had never spoken to anyone about the violence. TANZANIA: About half of women had experienced either physical (47%) or sexual (31%) violence by a partner. Furthermore, 30% of these women had never spoken to anyone about the violence and about half of those who had remained silent said they considered the violence to be “normal.” It is notable that Namibian women do not seem to see the abuse as “normal” while a significant proportion of Ethiopian and Tanzanian women did. These statistics say nothing about issues like land rights, economic opportunity, the right to education, widow – inheritance and emotional and sexual health all of which are overlaid with cultural (and often theological) norms that can be incredibly abusive. However the following data does provide an indicator of the extent of the problem: 3.2 Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Female Genital Mutilation is the “full or partial removal of girls’ external genitals, often performed under dangerous, unsanitary conditions and without anesthesia, for cultural or non-therapeutic reasons” (World Health Organization, 2000). The age at which mutilation occurs depends on cultural traditions – from as early as a few days after birth until as late as after the delivery of one first child. However FGC/M is generally performed on girls between ages 4 and 12. The approximate prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation in Africa5 
“It is estimated that more than 130 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM, mainly in Africa and some Middle Eastern countries, and 2 million girls a year are at risk of mutilation. As of April 2006, 15 of the 28 African States where FGM is prevalent had made it an offence under criminal law.”6 Data also seems to suggest that the practice is most widely practiced in the Horn of Africa and is also a significant factor in West Africa. 3.3 Sexual Assault and “Stranger Danger” Quite incredibly, there are almost no reliable statistics readily available on rape within the continent. The one exception is South Africa, which according to Interpol, records the highest incident of rape in the entire world. In a 2009 study on rape in South Africa by the Medical Research Council it was found that 1 in 4 men have perpetrated rape with more than half of those admitting to multiple offences.7 South African statistics suggest that a woman is raped in South Africa every 17 seconds and that 50% of South African women are raped at least once in their lifetime. Perhaps even more shocking is the fact that a significant percentage of those are children. It is reported that nearly a third of South African adolescents were forced into their first sexual encounter.8 The WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women found: ETHIOPIA: 5% of women had experienced non-partner physical violence since the age of 15 years. Fathers and other male family members were the main perpetrators. Less than 1% of women reported non-partner sexual violence since the age of 15 years. NAMIBIA: 19% of respondents reported that someone other than a partner had been physically violent towards them since the age of 15 years, whereas 6% reported sexual violence by a non-partner. The perpetrators of physical violence included teachers (26% of women reporting such violence), boyfriends (28%), fathers (19%) and female family members (19%).The most commonly mentioned perpetrators of sexual violence were boyfriends (55%). TANZANIA: 19% of all respondents in Dar es Salaam and 16% in Mbeya reported that someone other than a partner had been physically violent towards them since the age of 15 years. The main perpetrators were teachers, mentioned by more than half of all women who reported physical abuse. One in 10 women had experienced sexual violence by a non-partner since the age of 15 years. The most frequently mentioned perpetrators were boyfriends and strangers. These number would suggest that South African rape statistics are at least 2.5 time higher than the rest of Africa. 3.4 Forced Sexual Debut The WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence against Women found: ETHIOPIA: When interviewed face-to-face, less than 1% of women reported sexual abuse before age 15 years. In anonymous reporting however, using cards the women marked and put into envelopes themselves, 7% reported sexual abuse before age 15 years. About 17% of women reported that their first sexual experience was forced. NAMIBIA: When interviewed face-to-face, 5% of respondents reported sexual abuse before age 15 years. In anonymous reporting, however, using cards the women marked and put into envelopes themselves, 21% reported sexual abuse before age 15 years. About 6% of women reported that their first sexual experience was physically forced. Of those who reported having their first sexual experience before age 15 years, 33% were physically forced. TANZANIA: About one out of ten respondents reported sexual abuse before the age of 15 years. While about 15% of women reported that their first experience of sex was forced. The younger a woman at first sex, the more likely that this was forced, with about 40% reporting that first sex was forced when the first sexual experience was under 15 years of age. Forced Sexual Debut is an issue that seems to be significantly more prevalent in Africa than in the West as is evidenced in the data. Female adolescents reporting forced sexual initiation, as a percent of those reporting having had sex (Population-Based Surveys 1993-1999)9 
Source: Population-Based Surveys 1993-1999. All figures cited in Jewkes, Sen, and Garcia Moreno, 2002. The issue needs to be looked at in relation to the widely held view that intercourse with a virgin is a cure for HIV especially in Southern and East Africa where HIV is most prevalent. 3.5 Conflict Related Violence Against Women Sexual assault is an often-deployed weapon of war in African conflicts. Since 1990, more than half the continent has been in a state of conflict and war costing the lives of about 10-million people. The presence of conflict very obviously increases both the incidence and the aggression with which sexual offences are committed. Below are a few examples: RWANDA: In 1996 the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Rwanda stated that "rape was the rule and its absence the exception." His report stated that "rape was systematic and was used as a weapon." He estimated that between 250,000 and 500,000 Rwandese women and girls had been raped. Almost as many had been killed. LIBERIA: It is estimated that about 80% of Liberian women experiences some form of sexual violation during the conflict according to the statistics presented by Medicin Sans Frontiers and other service providers that are partners to the Joint Programme on Sexual and Gender- based Violence (SGBV) in the Ministry of Gender in Liberia, and which are currently coordinating and collecting data on SGBV in Liberia.10 DRC: Some 5 million people have died as a result of the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped. It is estimated that 40 women are raped every day in South Kivu in eastern DRC and that nearly 50% of survivors of sexual violence in DRC are children.11 The Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court in 1998 declared for the first time that "rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation, and other forms of sexual violence of comparative gravity" are to be considered war crimes. If these acts are knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population, they constitute "crimes against humanity." 4. Power Dynamics in Relationships The entire issue of VAW is ultimately an issue of power and power relationships. “The abuser wants to dominate the victim/survivor and wants all the power in the relationship-and uses violence in order to establish and maintain authority and power.”12 Any strategy that seeks to prevent VAW would need to address the underlying power dynamics that underpin violence in the first place. This is obviously a sensitive issue, particularly in patriarchal communities, however it is ultimately at the root of this problem. Historical responses have sought to shift power from men to women, which has of course resulted in a power struggle. Rather, I would suggest that we seek to EMPOWER both men and women in the process and thereby shift the power dynamic that enable VAW to flourish. 5. The Proposed Strategic Focus of Restored in Sub Saharan Africa In mapping the strategies of a number of agencies one can draw out the obvious synergies in their approaches. This in turn leads to an obvious log-frame for Restored in Sub Saharan Africa. Research undertaken by Masimanyane13 in South Africa in 1999 identified six priority areas for action:
A 2005 World Bank14 report identified four key focus areas: • Law and policies • Institutional reform of police, the judiciary, forensic medicine, and legal aid • Community level interventions • Individual behavior change strategies A 2006 USAID15 report identified very similar areas for action:
HEAL Africa16 in DRC approaches gender and justice issues through four facets:
A 2005 WHO17 report made a number of recommendations, including the following:
Furthermore, there seems to be some consensus among the various secular agencies that have proposed a specific role for faith-communities in the fight against VAW. The South African NGO, Sonke Gender Justice18, proposes the following specific actions religious, spiritual, and faith-based leaders can take to end violence against women. These actions are almost identical to those proposed by the National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women and the Violence Against Women Office in the United States in their document Engaging Religious, Spiritual, and Faith-Based Groups and Organizations:
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