School-Related Gender-Based Violence in Liberia: A historical overview of its root causes

• In Event: Highlighted session: Gender-based violence within educational spaces: Policy, practice and lived experiences of students

Proposal

School-Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV) violates children’s rights and takes a safe learning environment from them to flourish their potentials (Parkes, 2015; UNESCO, 2021). Recent studies have shown that crises and conflicts exacerbate the risk factors for SRGBV at all levels in a given country (Yacob-Haliso, 2012). Liberia has not been an exception to this challenge with over 14 nonconsecutive years of armed conflict followed by two pandemics, including Ebola (2014-2016) and COVID-19 (2020-present). With the conclusion of civil war in 2003, Liberia has been on a recovery path to reconstruct the country at all levels with having GBV initiatives on top of its political agenda (Abramowitz & Moran, 2012). On this path, it has been successful in reducing the gender disparity such as increased primary school enrollment for girls; however, the country is still behind the gender equity measures at all levels (Parkes, 2016) with a notable gap between research, policy, and practice (Parkes, 2015).

However, the emergence of the two pandemics following the civil war put the country in emergency mode again with national shutdowns and school closures, which has changed the country’s priorities (Liberia Ministry of Health, 2020). Studies emerged after these crises in Liberia have shown high levels of GBV in the country (Parkes, 2015; Postmus et al., 2014). However, little is still known about the prevalence and patterns of GBV manifestation in education spaces in the country (Parkes, 2015). As Parkes (2015) mentions there are few national-level quantitative surveys available, and existing qualitative studies are often not transferable. More specifically, there is dearth of evidence on the causal linkages of SRGBV and its corresponding implications for health and educational outcomes of children (Leach et al., 2014; Parkes, 2015).

In this paper, I will focus on SRGBV challenges in Liberia and examine some of its root causes through a historical overview. I will explore the literature on the existing SRGBV initiatives in the country and present potential policy recommendations as sustainable solutions to improve gender equity. My focus will be on primary school-aged children as less is known about the prevalence and patterns of this issue at this level even though primary school-aged children are at high risk of SRGBV due to overaged situations in their classroom. In fact, the prolonged conflict destroyed Liberia’s social, economic and health infrastructure (Liebling-Kalifani et al., 2011), including 80 percent of 2,400 existing schools (Stromquist et al., 2013). The lack of infrastructure and people’s displacement caused by the civil war, as well as many youths coming back from fighting, overloaded the limited existing number of schools with overaged students (Parkes, 2015; 2016). This overaged situation, which is still the case in Liberia but receives less attention, has created a power differential within classrooms over years that enhance the risk of SRGBV in schools by older students (Parkes, 2015; 2016). Thus, understanding the complexity of SRGBV at early years of schooling, which is the objective of this paper, can be critical in designing preventive interventions.

Author

• Elnaz Safarha, University of Maryland College of Education