Measuring Gender-Based Violence among Rural Women

This CSW parallel event- Beyond the Hashtags: Measuring Gender-Based Violence among Rural Women was sponsored and organized by Women for Women International (WfWI), South African Medical Research Council and George Washington University’s Global Women Institute. This discussion surrounded the ethical and methodological ways that field researchers collect data on gender-based violence in non-conflict and conflict/ humanitarian settings. The panelists spoke about the challenges that are faced in the field when collecting data and how these challenges have been addressed over the years to make data collection smoother both for the field researchers and the study participants.

The first challenge addressed was the safety and well-being of the field researchers and the participants. South African Medical Research Council along with the World Health Organization (WHO) developed a set of ethical guidelines to guide the training of the field researchers to ensure that both researchers and participants are protected. Research found that there is a higher disclosure rate when the researchers are more trained. The organization also made provision for a counselor to accompany each field team for the emotional and psychological needs of the members of the field team and the research participants who are often women and children who have gone through gender-based violence in both conflict and non-conflict settings.

Another challenge that has been addressed is the chaos that mars the research that has been done on gender/race–based violence in conflict settings as this is a relatively recent area of research. This challenge was addressed by the George Washington University’s Global Women Institute who brought together researchers in the field of conflict/ humanitarian settings and gender-based violence to develop a unified methodological and conceptual understanding and approach to how field work ought to be carried out in conflict/ post-conflict settings.

The Women for Women International (WfWI) which is an organization that works to empower marginalized women in conflict-affected areas takes a different approach by not focusing on the numbers or data of violence-affected women but rather focuses on how to build these women up to ensure that they are economically independent which reduces the risk factors of gender-based violence. They do this by organizing a 12-month curriculum with cohorts of 25 women where they teach them about their rights, health and value. These women are paid about $10 a month and bank accounts are opened for them as the first step to financial freedom. During and after the program, these women have a strong peer support base. It is obvious that these organizations are impacting and improving the lives of rural women.

For more information, visit: Women for Women International- https://www.womenforwomen.org/

George Washington University’s Global Women Institute- https://globalwomensinstitute.gwu.edu/

South African Medical Research Council- http://www.mrc.ac.za/