Include gender-based violence in syllabus

Civil society activists mark 16 days of Activism against Gender-based Violence in Isiolo town on December 8, 2020. It is about time that gender-based violence is taught or introduced in schools as a complete subject or as a course.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

In many Kenyan communities, women and girls are often looked down upon on account of their biological differences. For the longest time, this attitude has been passed on from one generation to the next, to the point that it makes some women and girls accept being violated.

This is because they are seen and made to see themselves as inferior to men. 

It is about time that gender-based violence is taught or introduced in schools as a complete subject or as a course.

It is easy to adapt when they are taught at a younger age since they will grow up knowing their rights and be able to defend themselves.

Why is it easy to teach subjects such as home science and exclude gender-based violence, yet the latter is more crucial, especially to the younger generations? 

Gender-based violence is the most pervasive yet least visible human rights violation in the world.

In most cases, it includes physical, sexual, mental or economic harm inflicted on a person because of their gender.

In most cases, it affects women and girls.

According to a study conducted by Unicef in Africa, approximately one out of three women and girls worldwide experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.

Humanitarian emergencies

The research also found out that gender-based violence occurs at any point in a person's life but it tends to increase during humanitarian emergencies, war and armed conflicts.

It has reached a point where gender-based violence occurs in marriage, largely because women have always been taught earlier in life that they should not talk or express themselves before a man, or that their opinion comes after that of the man.

To seal these perception gaps, education is the key.

By introducing gender-based violence as a school subject right from the lower-primary level to the highest level of education, African countries will have gone a long way in reducing cases such as family homicides, which have been on the rise. Gender-based violence is a learned behaviour and it can, therefore, be unlearned. 

Through education, both men and women will be able to know their rights and say NO when they are not comfortable in any situation and they will be understood. They will also be in a position to know when to report and where to report cases of gender-based violence, besides being able to reject gender norms.

Men also need to know how patriarchal structures create harmful gender norms and how they contribute to unhealthy dynamics.

Educating the communities on gender-based violence would also promote respect for both genders and help in unlearning behaviours that tend to exclude or violate others.

Facilitators also need to establish the common root of gender-based violence and tackle it as required. Let us sensitise the younger generation on gender-based violence and save the future world

Sherlyne Kwame, Narok