School related gender based violence in West Africa: a study of the possibility of accountability and collective action

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Monday I)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Challenging conventional constructions of gender, activism and accountability

Proposal

With the growing recognition of sexual gender-based violence globally, particularly within the era of the #MeToo movement, the governments of Burkina Faso and Benin, as well as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), have attempted systems of response to violence, particularly within the school environment. However, change and collective action responding to sexual violence in society, and particularly in schools, has proven difficult. To understand accountability against sexual violence in schools, and the possibility of collective action within two countries in West Africa, qualitative interviews were conducted and analysed with 24 Beninese and 14 Burkinabe government representatives of government, educational institutions, and NGO workers. This research finds that impunity occurs at every level of society, and not only undermines existing, albeit weak policies, but also demonstrates the influence of social constructed power dynamics, particularly masculine dominance. The research also illustrates the beginnings of collective action, obstacles hindering collective responsibility, and possibilities for more sustainable collective action and accountability through combating oppression and working towards interdependent responsibility and collective work. Our suggested holistic, collective approach may provide an ability to create checks and balances to ensure accountability is placed at the forefront and that collective action is possible.
The data collected from this study offers a grim glance into the reality of the limited action and accountability applied from within the countries, from all levels of society and through a multi-layered framework. On the policy level, data demonstrated that there was evidence provided by participants that existing policies were effectively implemented at school and community levels. However, policy makers and organizational influencers themselves admit that policies are not enforced, perhaps partly due to the lack of structured reporting mechanisms. This major shortcoming of policies, thus, renders them ineffective at combating sexual violence, supports the social norms of silence and avoids accountability.
Moreover, our findings demonstrate a lack of accountability of sexual violence from virtually all levels of society. While there are may be pockets of resistance that we discuss through actions towards policies, national studies, and small scale awareness campaigns, we found an inability or unwillingness to take effective action to combat sexual violence across all levels of the study. Sustainable accountability is avoided as a result of entrenched gender oppression, and an inability to effectively hold perpetrators accountable as a result of social norms and a culture of shame related to disclosure. Thus far, grassroots elements have not been able to build sustained action nor have individuals in positions of power broken the veil of silence around the violence, likely due to fears of retaliation.
Furthermore, a crucial part of combating sexual violence is speaking out against it. At all levels of society, participants reported that is it unwise and unsafe to disclose sexual violence to any type of authority and so girls and women, are expected to learn how to silently build resilience to the trauma, so it does not negatively affect her life further. Thus, there is a cyclical obstacle to allow for a critical mass to form that would create some protection for those denouncing perpetrators and those complicit in the violence.
More specifically, collective action, often found in social movements, generate success when able to build knowledge, develop links to privilege networks, and organize a critical mass of people to take committed and sustained action (Novelli 2010). Past feminist mobilization globally has also historically demonstrated that collective action also occurs out of state capacity and institutional legacies, while remaining vulnerable to international pressure, and sensitive to the degree of democracy within a particular country (Weldon and Htun 2013). In Benin and Burkina Faso, past mobilization against sexual violence in schools within the last decade has largely come from the international development world and grassroots, mostly women-led, organizations. Unlike social movements, these campaigns were often assisted and defined by transnational agencies. Moreover, the level of oppression within society against women and girls that came out of our research may make it difficult for women to have the ability and voice to organize sustainably. With this marginalization of women and maintenance of impunity, there are no privileged networks or a long lasting institutional legacy of women’s movements invested in the issue.
Although there are limits to accountability due to entrenched oppression, norms of silence, and lack of a powerful grassroots women’s movement to address sexual harassment, particularly in school, we found that possibilities are present in the beginnings of action and hints of hope. For example, the emergence and continued work of some women-led grassroots organizations and other forms of collaborative resistance, such as from university students, is encouraging. However, thus far their ability to disrupt the norms around sexual violence in schools and demand accountability has been limited in both countries of which our evidence demonstrates. This could, however, be the starting place for a movement to grow in the future.
For more sustained collective action to build off of these possibilities, our evidence also demonstrates the importance of investing in institutions of response, and involving multiple levels of society in responding to sexual violence, from teachers, to parents, to homes, to neighborhoods, to students, suggesting the possibility of honoring communitarian African society with a focus on collective wellbeing and holistic action. An integrated approach from multiple sectors of society, all of whom illustrate roadblocks to action through entrenched social norms, could be applied to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and violence against girls in schools and enforce accountability through checks and balances. The present time is an opportunity to mirror the #metoo movements that are calling for system wide action against sexual harassment and violence. This approach also suggests that not one level of stakeholders will be responsible for responding to sexual violence or holding perpetrators accountable. Instead, the aim of a multi-level approach to collective action will aim at destroying the root causes that keep sexual violence in schools hidden by holding every level accountable in order to push towards a long-term paradigm shift of accountability and collective action.

Authors

• Jordan J Steiner, Center on Violence Against Women and Children, Rutgers School of Social Work

• Anne Spear, University of Maryland