Gender Based Violence in the Rural Setting of Arsi: Causes And Consequence Analysis In Hetosa District
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2015-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Gender based violence is any act of physical, psychological, and sexual impacts on
women by men due to the fact that they are women. Different studies conducted on
gender based violence among the communities of Arsi zone emphasizes on the magnitude
of the problem and never mainly discussed on the root causes of the problem. By
understanding this gap, this study tries to look on some of the main causes associated
with the culture of the local community and other non cultural causes which further
aggravate the problems. In addition, this study revealed different consequences of gender
based violence in the local context and pave the way for further studies in the area of
gender based violence. The objectives of this study are assessing how gender based
violence is embeded in the socio cultural practices of the society, identifying the possible
causes that further exacerbate the situation of gender based violence against women in
Hetosa district, exploring the inequalities of gender as a social construction that paves the
way for gender based violence, and finally describing the consequences of gender based
violence on individual and society of the study area.
This study is conducted under the umbrella of qualitative research methodology and the
data sources were both primary and secondary sources. In that, systematic observation,
interview and focus group discussion are the data gathering techniques under primary
sources and different earlier studies by other researchers, and published books are the
secondary sources of this study. I made indepth interviews with women, focus group
discussion with women who experience gender based violence and were reporting there
cases to the formal court system, the police, or women and children affairs. Hence, the
target groups of this study are women in the age of majority (18+) and women who have
suffered from any types of gender based violence. Some men were also among my key
informants who provided me with a wide range of information concerning gender based violence. In this study, I used different approaches to conduct women at the police office,
women and children affairs office, local court compound and home to home visit.
It is found that the main cultural causes for gender based violence among the community
of Hetosa district are traditional marital structure, religion based attitudes, gender
socialization, social attitudes toward sexes, patriarchical institutions, and the weakinig of
traditional inistitutions that safeguard the rights of women. Other non cultural causes
include individual/ group interest, low education/ illitrecy, alcohol and drug abuse, and
risk calculation. This study also identified the main types of gender based violence
among the people of Hetosa district like economic abuse, sexual harassment/ emotional
abuse, woman beating, and rape. Other types of gender based violence like abduction,
female genital mutilation, and early marriage are found to be rarely occur in in the area of
my study. The earlier major types of gender based violence identified among the people
of Hetosa district has different consequences on individuals and community at large.
Some of the main consequences identified are marital divorce, poverty, physical harm/
injury, unwanted pregnancy, child birth or abortion, vulnerability to sexually transmitted
disease, mental illness, and murder
Description
Keywords
Social Anthropology