International Journal of Human Research and Social Science Studies

The study explored gender-based violence (GBV) consequences on women economic empowerment within Sierra Leone. Koinadugu District, in particular, has reported many cases of GBV in the decade running between 2010 and 2022, the cases are immense. The aim of this study examined the effects of gender-based violence on the women access to education. This investigation was guided by ecological theory and a descriptive survey design. Using questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews to collect data, the results are based on achieved response of a group of 40 women, 2 chiefs and 2 officers in charge of children protection unit and 3 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) staff. Study findings indicate that there was notable impact of GBV on women’s access to education in Koinadugu District. Cases of school dropout because of teenage pregnancies, early marriage, child labour and giving preference to boys in education were some of the outstanding findings. This study recommends that the empowerment of women will reduce the unequal power relationship between women and men which has been identified as the root cause of GBV.

Gender based violence, Education, Child Labour, Early Pregnancy, Empowerment

1. Amnesty International, (2011). Haiti: Sexual Violence against Women increasing, Haiti-sexual violence- against-women-increasing - 2011-01-06.
2. Barker, G.T. (2011). Men and Gender Equality, Between the Urgency and the Confusion. Paper presented, at the Helen Joseph Memorial Lecture, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park.
3. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1995). Developmental ecology through space and time: A future perspective.
4. Centre for Rights, Education and Awareness (CREAW) (2006). Bride Price: Is it Modern Day Slavery, Nairobi: Centre for Rights, Education and Awareness.
5. Contreras, M., Heilman, B., Barker, G., Singh, A., Verma, R. & Bloomfield, J. (2012). Research in the Social Sciences: Only Study Guide for RSC201-H. Pretoria: University of South Africa.
6. Cooper, R. D. & Schindler, S. P. (2004). Business, research methods (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin DFID’s Agenda 2010 – The turning point, on poverty: background paper on gender.
7. Economic Survey (2011). Institute of Economic Affairs Falb, K. (2011). IRC Thailand: Gender- Gender Violence Recovery Centre (2017). Gender, Violence, Recovery Centre Annual Report.
8. Inter-Agency Standing Committee. Reference Module for the Implementation of The Humanitarian Programme Cycle, 2015.
9. Heise, L. (1998). Gender Based Abuse, the Global Epidemic. Saude Publications, 10, 135-145.
10. Holmes, R. & Bhuvanendra, D. (2014). Preventing and responding to Gender-Based Violence in humanitarian contexts. Network Paper Number 77.
11. Human Rights Watch, (2003). We will kill you if you cry, Sexual Violence in the Sierra Leone Conflict. New York: Human Rights Watch.
12. Johnson K., Scott, J., Rughita, B., Kisielewski, M. & Lawry, L. (2010). Association of Sexual Violence and Human Rights violations with physical and mental health in territories of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, JAMA, 304(5).
13. Kamau, G. N. (2010). Gender roles and status of Agikuyu Women: A Religious Cultural approach. PhD Thesis Kenyatta University
14. Kirungi, W. & Bukuluki, P. (2011). The National HIV Prevention strategy for Uganda: 2011-15, Uganda AIDS Commission, Kampala.
15. Krug, E.G., Mercy, J.A., Dahlberg, L.L. & Zwi, A.B. (2002). The World report on violence and health. The Lancet, 360, 1083-1088. Division for the advancement of Women (UNDAW). 
16. Lang, K. (2003). The role of men and boys in achieving gender equality. The United Nations Ministry of Gender, labor and social services, (2017). National Report on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Uganda; Kampala – Uganda.
17. Opolot, S. (2011). A review on militarism, Sexual and gender-based violence against Women: Anecdotal evidence from Kasese District in Uganda.
18. Oyewumi, O. (2005). African gender studies: A reader. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
19. Peterman, A., Palermo, T., & Bredenkamp, C. (2011). Estimates and determinants of sexual violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. American journal of public health, 101(6), 1060– 1067. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2010.300070
20. Tacoli, C (2012). Urbanization, gender and urban poverty: paid work and unpaid care work in the city:
21. World Health Organization. (2011). Health care for women subjected to intimate partner violence or sexual violence: A clinical handbook.
22. World Health Organization/London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women: taking action and generating evidence. Geneva, World Health Organization, 2010.
23. Amnesty International, “Shamed and Blamed: Pregnant Girls’ Rights at Risk in Sierra Leone,” November 6, 2015 
24. Sierra Leone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2004) report, "The practice of expelling girls who become pregnant from educational institutions is discriminatory and archaic." 
25. Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education of Sierra Leone (March 2021), National Policy on Radical Inclusion in Schools.