Gender-based violence (GBV) is still a widespread problem in Rwanda, with women remaining the primary people affected. However, the country is known to be a pace setter in the fight against this epidemic. Innovative national strategies and policies have been initiated by the government to eliminate GBVand promote gender equality at all levels.
Gender-based violence (GBV) has largely been understood as the act of violence against women. Hence society forgets that men also suffer the same way that women do, or even worse.
It wasn’t until I began to share my own story of survival that I realized how vulnerable men were to GBV. Two years ago, I was raped and I conceived a child as a result. I was 19-years-old at the time, but since the incident, I have written and spoken extensively about the aftermath of my rape. I cannot say that I don't think about my rape on a regular basis, instead it has just become a part of my primordial goo that courses through my veins and makes me who I am.
The communities of Kibaale East, Kamwenge, where I work and stay, lack informal and formal support structures that help girls, survivors and young mothers to cope with gender-based violence (GBV).
On October 17, 2017, End Poverty Day, 33 World Bank offices in Africa came together to talk about poverty and social inclusion. We were excited of course, but were totally unprepared for what we saw! The 750 “in-person” participants in the field offices could not get enough of the discussion. Every country made brief but powerful, and highly inspiring, presentations on social inclusion. They highlighted the work of a host of actors—civil society organizations, local communities, faith-based organizations, youth groups, government agencies, and World Bank staff—to make a real difference in the lives of some of the most excluded people in Africa, such as people with albinism, orphans, street children, and women who experience gender-based violence (GBV).
Many laws prohibiting a range of gender violence have been ineffective in reducing the prevalence of harmful practices. This is mainly due to the influential role that deeply rooted social norms—one of multiple and sometimes competing normative orders people adhere to—play in determining behavior and outcomes.
Gender-based violence (GBV) reflects power inequalities between women and men. Women and girls are more commonly the victims of GBV—a manifestation of power imbalance tilted in favor of men that characterizes many, mostly patriarchal, cultures around the world. Collectively shared norms about women’s subordinate role in society and violence against them can also perpetuate the power imbalance. In the upcoming World Development Report 2017 we discuss how norms can reinforce existing power inequalities in society and how change can happen.
Working on addressing and preventing sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in fragile and post-conflict areas is a challenging endeavor for government staff and NGO partners in the field.
