By:
UNESCO, Section of Health & Education
If we want to eradicate SRGBV, we first need to understand the nature of this issue and get a better sense of its scale in different contexts.
Only then we will be able to effectively call on policymakers to implement policy and programmatic changes that ensure school environments are free from violence.
Defining school-related gender-based violence
School-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) is complex and nuanced. It can be defined as “an act or threat of sexual, physical, or psychological violence occurring in and around schools perpetrated as a result of gender norms and stereotypes and enforced by unequal power dynamics”.
The dynamics of school-related gender-based violence are incredibly complex. It is influenced by gender, but it also intersects with other identities such as disability, migration status, race, or ethnicity. Additionally, SRGBV can happen on school grounds, but also on the way to school or in school-related activities. It is also linked to and influenced by violence that happens in other spaces in children’s lives.
All these conceptual nuances make it really challenging to capture what SRGBV actually entails and come up with an internationally validated methodology to measure it.
To fill this gap, the Global Working Group to End SRGBV* put together an expert working group to conduct an exploratory exercise to define methods for estimating SRGBV, building on existing datasets. This exercise brought about a wealth of lessons about what counts as SRGBV, what SRGBV looks like in different settings, and what data points can best help us capture its prevalence.
Exploring how to measure SRGBV
The expert working group used four different surveys that can be used as useful proxy to estimate the scale of SRGBV:
The expert working group then examined how to define which survey items can be used to measure SRGBV since these surveys often have different indicators. For instance, some surveys provide information on the location or perpetrator(s) of violence, but others don’t.
These surveys cover different geographies and age groups, and some of them are population-based surveys, while others are school-based surveys. Additionally, they cover different types of incidents and recall periods. However, when triangulated, these surveys can help us ascertain the scale of SRGBV in as comprehensive a way as possible.
When we don’t have this information, it is more difficult to decide whether we count a specific incident of violence as SRGBV. For instance, would an incident where a teacher abuses a child in their home count as SRGBV?
Another question is the role of gender in these incidents. Reviewing the different survey items, we need to determine the extent to which the reported experiences are primarily driven by gender. For some types of violence, such as dating violence among school peers, the link to gender is obvious. For others, it's less direct. For instance, two boys fighting in a schoolyard, or some forms of corporal punishment. Data users, program specialists and policy-makers are best placed to decide which survey items are relevant when looking at gauging the scale of SRGBV in their context.
Relevant survey items to consider
Above mentioned surveys include several items that could be used to explore the scale of SRGBV, for example:
- The VACS has a lot of survey items focused on sexual violence, such as noncontact sexual violence or exploitation by a schoolmate or a teacher, for which both the link to gender and school environments is very clear.
For physical violence, a lot of the data comes from the GSHS. Because GSHS is primarily a school-based survey, we can assume that the violence children report is related to school, but the link to gender is not always obvious. For example, being kicked or punched can potentially be related to gender norms but it very much depends on the context.
Data on bullying and cyberbullying mainly come from the HBSC, GSHS, and ERC, which are all school-based surveys. While the link to school is clear, the expert working group had to make assumptions for those items related to gender. For example, cyberbullying by messages is often related to sexual images. However, this also depends on context, so practitioners and policymakers must interpret these survey items based on what they know about their own contexts from qualitative data or programmatic evidence.
Next steps: filling the research and data gaps for a more comprehensive picture of SRGBV
There is quite a lot of data available already from different surveys that we can build on to get an understanding of the scale of SRGBV in different contexts. However, we're nowhere near having a full picture of the scale of SRGBV.
The expert working group put together a few key recommendations on how we can strengthen the evidence base on SRGBV:
Greater clarity in existing surveys on circumstances of violence, perpetrator, location, and bystanders.
Harmonized parameters for collecting data on school violence, age range and recall period.
Explore existing data to understand what our actual data needs are, instead of directly choosing to collect more data, particularly on sensitive questions.
More qualitative research, particularly to gain a more nuanced understanding of the gendered dimensions of violence in and around schools in terms of patterns, drivers, outcomes, and even perpetration.
Prioritization of generating data on critical gaps. For instance, there is very little evidence on sexual violence incidents happening in and around schools.
Integrate questions on violence and gender in periodic surveys including those conducted through education systems.
Ultimately, we need to make sure that we collect data that responds to the needs of those who use the data on the ground, to inform policies and practices that enable safe and inclusive learning environments.
Linking data to practice
UNESCO has been building on the lessons from this exercise to fill in the data gaps on SRGBV. We are currently supporting the rollout of the Global School Health Survey, the GSHS, in 27 sub-Saharan African countries. We want to ensure questions on different types of violence and the gender and education dimensions of this violence are a key part of these surveys.
At the regional level, we also commissioned implementation research to determine how we can effectively implement “Connect with Respect” - a curriculum-based tool to equip learners with information and skills on SRGBV - in different education systems.
Lastly, together with the global Working Group to End SRGBV that we co-convene with UNGEI, we are exploring conducting a research agenda-setting exercise on ending violence - including GBV - in and through education. That will help us map where the data gaps are and where we can direct our collaborative efforts to ensure that schools across the globe are free from SRGBV.
*Established in 2014 in response to the need for a coordinated response, the Global Working Group to End SRGBV comprises a network of over 50 organizations from civil society, academia, and the UN. It focuses on collaboratively to tackle the root causes and drivers of gender-based violence in and around schools. Co-convened by UNGEI and UNESCO, the Working Group facilitates learning, knowledge exchange, collective advocacy, and evidence-based approaches to further a shared agenda.