School-Related Gender-Based Violence in Kenya: Gaps and Recommendations

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) (2016) define school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) as acts or threats of sexual, physical, or psychological violence occurring in and around school, perpetrated as a result of gender norms and stereotypes, and enforced by unequal power dynamics. In the school setting, SRGBV takes many forms, such as corporal punishment, bullying, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, and sexual violence, many of which are a result of harmful gender norms and inequality. Unfortunately, these various forms of SRGBV often intersect and reinforce each other without intervention. Studies show that exposure to one form of violence increases the likelihood of experiencing different forms of violence. For instance, children who experience emotional violence are 3 times more likely also to experience physical violence, and those who experience physical and/or emotional violence are twice as likely to experience sexual violence (Smiley et al., 2021).