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. 2022 Jul 19;8(7):e10006. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10006

Gender-based violence and its socio-cultural implications in South West Ethiopia secondary schools

Habtamu Wondimu 1
PMCID: PMC9309679  PMID: 35898605

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the determinant factors of school-related gender-based violence and its socio-cultural implications for female academic fulfillment in Wolkite town secondary schools. In terms of the research approach, sequential mixed explanatory methods were used. This study took Wolkite secondary schools students and respondents (n = 215). The study results have shown that the most significant socio-cultural determinant factors for school-related gender-based violence resulted from a lack of societal motives to address the problem and gender discriminatory norms bitterly blamed. From this finding, the researcher concluded that the sociocultural practices of the patriarchal ideology that society entertains have a tremendous impact on female students being victimized by gender-based violence and their educational attainment. Policymakers should therefore have significant involvement in school-related gender-based violence.

Keywords: Sexual harassment, Educational fulfilments, Socio-cultural influences, Violence against women, Sexual assault

Sexual harassment; Educational fulfilments; Socio-cultural influences; Violence against women; Sexual assault.

1. Introduction

Various published articles have stated that school-related gender-based violence has become rampant worldwide (McGuire, 2012). The issue of violence against women is not a recent phenomenon (Bouhours and Broadhurst, 2015; Luna-Firebaugh, 2006). The issue persisted for a long time due to socio-cultural and geographical factors (Duggan, 2019; Tenkorang, 2020). The global conference held in Vienna in 1993 on the issue of human rights asserts to regard female life matter, psychological integrity, and female liberty from male perpetrators' dominance. Further, the conference issued gender-based violence as the main hurdle for equality, freedom, and the overall development of a specific country (Hartrick, 1997; McGuire, 2012). Many boys and girls are victimized by extensive physical, sexual, and psychological abuse at their schools (Schaffner, 2007; Tasca et al., 2012). Examination of this gender-based violence or violence against women in school (SRGBV) specifies manifestations usually reinforced by imbalanced access to a financial, social, communal way of life, political assets, and the authority to set out these (Astin and Smith, 2021; Brown, 2017).

Several studies have indicated that the notion of violence includes the sexual practices enforced by men on women (rape and forced sexual activity) and various forms of harassment, including verbal abuse, scandalizing their physiques, and inappropriate touching (Brown, 2017; Parkes et al., 2020). Accordingly, females are frequently victimized by gender-based violence in schools, but they refuse to report their suffering to responsible bodies due to fear of stigma in developing countries (Duggan, 2019). Unreported sexual abuse among female students is a result of many factors. The common hurdles to recognizing revelations among college students of sexual attacks include embarrassment and shame, assault thinking, loss of confidence, fear, anxiety, and denial of society’s bargain with them (Luna-Firebaugh, 2006; Parkes et al., 2020).

The analysis of gender abuse in developing countries is limited. Violence against women, on the other hand, has reached alarming proportions in third-world countries (Ajodo-Adebanjoko, 2015; Beydoun and Beydoun, 2013; Brown, 2017). Women’s lives in Africa have deteriorated as a result of the combined effects of hunger and underdevelopment (Ogujiuba and Jumare, 2012; Spencer et al., 2017). Women have less education on the African continent and are not equally involved in the decision-making process. Moreover, people believe that they are less likely to benefit from the overall development of their country (Ajodo-Adebanjoko, 2015; Brown, 2017).

School-related gender-based violence has received increasing attention in Ethiopia’s research, politics, and practice over the past decade at national and international levels. In this praise, UNICEF and the Ethiopian Government were involved in ending Gender-based Violence in Schools. UNICEF, the UCL Institute of Education, and the Ethiopian Government are funded by the Global Partnership for Education. According to the Ethiopian Demography and Health Survey, 33% of women by the age of 15–49 experience physical or sexual violence. Domestic violence is the most common form of violence against women. About 65% of women were circumcised in 1549, and child marriage remains a serious concern in Ethiopia. Of the 15–49 aged females, 10% experienced sexual violence. To mitigate the prevalent rate of gender-based violence, Ethiopia’s current government has made a considerable effort to mitigate school-related gender-based violence by ratifying several social protection policies (Berhane, 2005). Article 35 of the 1995 FDRE Constitution, for example, stipulated women’s equality and the legal basis for the protection of women’s human rights. Despite political efforts, ratified social protection policies, particularly in primary and secondary education, are unable to alleviate the problem (Bacchus et al., 2003; Jansen et al., 2004). In Ethiopian schools, the Ethiopian government claims that the residential location of the school is intervened by local cultural practices and out-of-school events such as early involuntary marriage, physical or sexual violence, and the community. It raises whether the code should be extended to accommodate.

In the meantime, various studies have been conducted concerning the extensiveness of school-related violence in Africa and in Ethiopia, such as (A. Muche et al., 2017; Dunne et al., 2006; Lunneblad and Johansson, 2019; Mennicke et al., 2019; Muluneh et al., 2020, 2021; Sabina and Ho, 2014). However, none of the above studies have examined the determinants of educational attainment through systematic analysis, and they are not methodologically vibrant. Wolkite Women and children’s affairs and Wolkite University's gender directorate reported that violence against women in the workplace and schools is prevalent. Nonetheless, Wolkite University, one of Ethiopia's universities, is located in the area. But, the organization has paid little attention to female student violence in secondary schools. As a result, the above-mentioned university’s directorate of affairs stated that violence against women in grades 12 and 11 is on the rise. Unfortunately, their report doesn’t include grades 9 and 10, which have a considerable number of students. Hence, the problem has been examined a little in the area. Despite correlating with the socio-cultural aspects of the community.

Furthermore, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, there are no adequate and comprehensive studies that discuss the issue of gender-based violence in relation to the determinants of socio-cultural practices in the study area. Because of inadequate studies in the study area, there is also limited knowledge among the communities about the association of their daily activities with violence against women. In the meantime, the present study addresses the knowledge gap by examining (a) the social determinants of school-related gender-based violence, and (b) the correlation between forms of gender-based violence and socio-cultural practices. Further, to address the knowledge gap, the researcher used quantitative advanced statistical analysis and qualitative thematic analysis despite the previous studies. This paper is organized in a sequential sequence as follows. Besides the introductory part of the article, in the second section, the article reviews related literature concerning the issue of violence against women. The third section augments the methodological analysis while conducting the required research and analytical strategies. The fourth section interprets the results using descriptive and inferential statistics convergence with the issue and data collected from the respondents. The last section details the discussion and conclusion of the study based on the findings obtained from the data.

2. Review of related literature

2.1. The pervasiveness of school-related gender-based violence

Gender might be described as a major feature of the typical way of life community, representing the masculine and feminine traits of individuals. Simultaneously, sex indicates the biological composition or quality of individuals that entails which roles the individuals should have to be entertained in society. Gender position discloses the attributes and traits that several cultures assign to the sexes (Arrindell et al., 2003; Bhattacharyya, 2017; Montag, 2015).

Violence against women has become an alarming rate in third-world countries. In Africa’s nation, the combined effect of hunger and underdevelopment has made females' lives in a worsening situation (Ogujiuba and Jumare, 2012). Women have less education quality on the African continent and are not equally involved in the decision-making process (Erickson et al., 2018; Namubiru, 2021). Moreover, people believe that they are less likely to benefit from the overall development of their country. Furthermore, more than 45.6% of women younger than 15 years of age 15 on the continent have witnessed intimate partner abuse, which they are victimized to physical and psychological abuse in the world (Bouhours and Broadhurst, 2015).

Most of the research conducted in Ethiopia’s country classified violence into two primary groups' violence against children (VAC) and violence against women (VAW), also referred to as gender-based violence (Beyene et al., 2021a, 2021b). While the terminology is split, there is substantial variation between the two. For example, various surveys have been carried out in secondary and tertiary schools, and they aim to commence with the most prevalent type of gender-based and sexual abuse. Other reports concerning the elevated level of corporeal and psychosomatic violence are referred to as emotional violence (Simkiss, 2013; McAlister et al., 2013). In the southern nation and nationality of Ethiopia, the various form of gender-based violence and abusive treatment against a female student in the region promote the belief that female students are not equal with males concerning educational fulfillment and scores (Mavhandu-Mudzusi and Asgedom, 2016). However, in the study area where the study was undertaken, most females did not attend school regularly because most of them lived in rural areas. They have been burdened to do or work most of the things in their household, which causes female students not to achieve the need for academic achievement. The widely held female students feel that they are inferior or lower than male students because of gender-based violence in the university and high school.

2.2. Explicit gender-based violence in the school

In the research concerning intimidation and violence in the school, students' differences are being made between different types of violence (Beyene et al., 2021a, 2021b). Researchers frequently augment gender-based violence, such as corporeal violence, verbal abuse, peer-addressed violence, and cyberbullying are common in schools and colleges (Krigel and Benjamin, 2020). The term physical or corporal abuses are used to refer to an incident that the perpetrators kick, hit, or push the subordinates groups. Verbal abuse or verbal violence is referred to as the kind of violence that violates the rights of some individuals using derogatory oral terms and ridicule (Farhan, 2019). On the other hand, relational violence is a type of violence executed by peers or friends that we are intimated with. It can also be described as acts that destroy a personal commitment to the people or community where they belong (Asnes et al., 2021; Krigel and Benjamin, 2020; Schaaf and McCanne, 1998). Stigma and problems with transparency have made it impossible to examine these aspects of gender-based abuse, but in this study, I have provided more studies on the place and doers of sexual violence. These findings have specifically dealt with sexual harassment in schools. In so doing, women are more likely to be vulnerable within the heterosexual matrix and socio-cultural practices around the school. Sexual harassment resulted from male students molded by a patriarchal ideology (Astin and Smith, 2021). Again, most of the research findings conducted in sub-Saharan countries have very vague analyses (available in English) from elsewhere. The limited prominence and contextual precision of the study caution against any straightforward extrapolation (Marsden et al., 2020).

2.3. The common forms of gender-based violence

Several studies have indicated that violence against females is predominant in African nations (Muluneh et al., 2020, 2021). However, the most prevalent forms of socio-cultural GBV in Ethiopia are rape, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, and marriage by abductions account for 71%, 73%, and 70.5%, respectively (Asnes et al., 2021). Other forms of violence are making women a means of trafficking to prostitution, verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and corporal and emotional acts of violence traced as the major. The incidence rate of acts of violence varied from one culture to another (Johnson Ross and Parkes, 2020a, 2020b; Parkes et al., 2020). According to Beyene et al. (2021a, 2021b), socio-cultural practices such as female genital mutilations and premature marriage are the two arrangements of violence that have a tremendous impact on the educational fulfillment of female students across the developing regions of the world. These forms of violence impede and swallow women’s abilities in public spheres (Gilroy et al., 2019). Other hidden types of violence can also affect female students' educational fulfillment in Wolkite town schools, such as sexual provocation, psychological abuse, and domestic abuse.

2.4. Socio-cultural practices and explicit gender-based violence

Gender-based violence is perceived as an essential form of public well-being apprehension (Johnson Ross and Parkes, 2020a, 2020b). It is a core issue risk factor for women’s health-related susceptibilities (mostly procreative and psychologically), particularly in developing regions such as Africa (Marsden et al., 2020). The research examines socio-cultural origins, sex inclination, and the influence of GBV on women’s creative status or education related to their schooling. Abuse towards women (violence against women) has been witnessed in all industrial and emerging communities (Bishwajit et al., 2016). The experience of violent acts on females while growing up, together with societal perceptions of male supremacy and acceptance of gender-based violence, has fostered the practice. According to Chiome and Chindanya (2015), the central socio-cultural approach that aggravates the victimization of women in public and domestic spheres is customary discriminatory norms that support male supremacy. Entitlements, social customs that tolerate gender-based violence, weak societal sanctions against perpetrators, and the level of crime, poverty, and societal conflict (Anderson, 1974). Therefore, this study is commenced to assess the correlation between the socio-cultural factors for gender-based violence and educational attainments, how the societal norms that the community in the study area follows have tolerated or justified violence against women.

2.5. Factors and influence of gender-based violence: a conceptual framework

The issue of gender-based violence among female students has not resulted only in school (Burns, 2007; Westbrook and Schilt, 2013). However, the community’s outside socio-cultural factors also have a tremendous influence (Anderson, 1974). The community’s patriarchal ideology follows bitterly blames as a triggering factor for men’s supremacy over women’s (Burns, 2007; Westbrook and Schilt, 2013; Wondimu, 2020). The recent Muluneh et al. (2020) report revealed that the traditional practice of the community in Ethiopia, such as female genital mutilations and premature marriage, has changed the attitudes of women and people to deteriorate the relevance of women’s education; in so doing, the rate of enrolment of females in the educational fulfillment is relatively low compared to male students. Whereas the finding of Berhane (2005) and the report of Beyene et al. (2021a, 2021b)assert that the specific types of gender-based violence against women in the school resulted in lower academic performances, reduced self-worth, health problem, and mental problem (anxiety and depression) are the most penetrated results. Furthermore, Bishwajit et al. (2016) asserted that the other factors that aggravate the pervasiveness of gender-based violence among female students are the limited parent’s participation and lack of enhanced awareness of the community about girls' education. In addition, school principals have scarce rules and regulations that prohibit harassment against women in school areas (see Table 1).

Table 1.

The conceptual framework.

Theme References Frameworks Questions and Tools of Data Collection
The socio-cultural influence on violence against women The socio-cultural practice that the community entertains has a tremendous effect on the female to be vulnerable by gender- based-violence.
The patriarchal ideology that the community follows bitterly blames as triggering factors for males' supremacy over women.
  • •

    What are the social determinants of school-related gender-based violence?

  • •

    Are household size, religious backgrounds, and the marital status of their demographic backgrounds predict gender-based violence?

  • Survey questionnaire used. The quantitative was then analyzed through Pearson correlation and logistic regression.
The specific traditional forms of violence against women affect the educational attainments of women. The traditional practice of the community in Ethiopia, such as female genital mutilations and premature marriage, has changed females and people’s attitudes to deteriorate women's education’s relevance.
  • •

    Are there any correlations between societal traditions along with female educational fulfillments?

  • The survey questionnaire and in-depth interview were used in the techniques of the explanatory sequential mixed method. Pearson correlation and Binary logistic regression were used.
The social and psychological effects on social relationships. Bishwajit et al. (2016) and Wondimu (2019). The social and psychological effects are lower academic performances, reduced self-worth, health problem, and mental problem (anxiety and depression) are the most penetrated results.
  • •

    Are school-related violence have effects on social relationships, and what are these forms of violence?

  • Survey questionnaires and in-depth-interview were used. Besides, the researcher used the descriptive-analytical method in the form of an explanatory sequential mixed process. Here, the data gained from interviewees was triangulated to redouble the quantitative arguments.
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The above Figure 1 indicates how gender-based violence penetrated as a result of society’s culture and high boy’s enrollment or masculinity in learning concepts and how those factors affect female students' academic achievement by reducing self-worthiness, health problems, and increased anxiety as well depression.

Figure 1.

Figure 1

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Conceptual framework on factors and influence of gender-based violence.

This research has used and labeled the influences and types of gender-based violence mentioned in the above Figure 1 as independent variables; harmful traditional practices such as early marriage, bullying, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and physical violence. The psycho-social consequences resulting from school-related acts of violence labeled as dependent variables such as lower academic performance, reduced self-worth, anxiety, depression, and having a low social network with the community, and students and teachers are among the consequence penetrated as a result of gender-based violence.

3. Methods

3.1. Research design

The researcher used mixed approaches. Mixed method approaches help researchers assimilate qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis rigorously and aim to minimize the limitations of these approaches (McKim, 2016). Besides, a mixed research approach was used to integrate the qualitative data gained from the in-depth interview with the quantitative survey to questionnaire in examining how gender-based violence in secondary schools is augmented and its hideous side immensely. Another reason for using a mixed research approach is to bring together the fundamental philosophical domains of quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative approach contends with post-positivism or ontological philosophical realms and is used to understand the current trends and situations of the violence addressed by male perpetrators. The qualitative method, on the other hand, is based on the constructivism philosophy and is used to assess how these physical verbal, and other gender violence could be changed and affect females in the community as well as in their schooling. In terms of data collection sequence, first, the investigator collected quantitative data using a questionnaire and based on the quantitative data detailed information was gathered through qualitative interviews. In addition, in terms of research design, the researcher used a descriptive cross-sectional research design to recruit respondents from January 2020 to February 2021 at Wolkite town secondary schools to investigate school-related gender-based violence and its socio-cultural implications. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of daily communal practice on making students vulnerable to school-related violence. Data was composed and collected at one point when carrying through the systematically selected sample from the target population (Fallman, 2007; Kennedy-Clark, 2015).

3.2. Participants

This study was conducted in Wolkite town. The city of Wolkite is at a distance of 158 km from Addis Ababa, which is the center city of Ethiopia. There are four well-known secondary schools found in Wolkite town. Two of these schools are now taking grades 9-to-12, and the other two schools take a student from grades 9 and 10. The total number of students found in these secondary schools is 6182. 3308 were males, and 2824 were females. This number only includes grades 9 and 10 only. The number of male students outpaces the females. The number of students in grade 12 was 885; in grade 11, 921, and grades 10 and 9, 4206.

This study is focused on grade 9 and 10 students found in the town. According to Wolkite Women and Children’s Affairs and the Wolkite University Gender Directorate, violence against women in grades 12 and 11 is on the rise. Unfortunately, their report doesn’t include grades 9 and 10 that have a considerable number of students. Despite the fact that dropout rates increase in grades 9 and 10 (see Mesfin, 2020), the issue receives little attention from eminent scholars at Wolkite University and the town’s gender directorate. This study only enrolls female students with grades of 9 and 10 in order to obtain conclusive and high-quality data. The number of total students in 9 and 10th grades is 4206, and there were 2448 male students, and the remaining 1758 were females.

3.3. Sampling technique

This study was approved and reviewed by the Wolkite University Institutional Review Board (IRB). Before the data collection started, the researcher provided respondents with an informed consent form written by the Wolkite University research institute and Department of Sociology. To promote data reliability and validity, participants were also asked their willingness to be involved and provide necessary information about the study issues. However, to select sample respondents, proportional stratified and snowball sampling techniques were employed. First, female students were divided into strata based on their age, marital status, religion, grades, household size, place of residence, and educational performance. The proportional saplings used in the quantitative approach ensure that the size of each stratum of the four selected secondary schools is proportional to the total target population based on the above stratum and that each layer listed is in the same proportion. Second, for this study, the researcher used systematic simple random sampling of female students in both grades. Simple random sampling was used to get samples selected from each group or stratum. The sampling frame was obtained from the school principals or directors. The principal requested to give the sampling frame through the formal letter written from the Department of Sociology at Wolkite University, Ethiopia. After getting permission from the school principals in the study area, the researcher took into consideration protecting the privacy, anonymity, and confidentiality of respondents while collecting the required data. Furthermore, the respondents were first informed about the overall purpose of the study and asked if they were willing to participate. The researcher also used snowball sampling from the non-probability sample (quantitative approach) to identify hidden groups that could not be easily contacted. It wasn’t easy to find a girl who revealed she was suffering from gender-based violence, so the researcher used snowball sampling to reach out to those students from their friends, teachers, and other nominations. The researcher contacted the respondents to understand the social ties in which they were involved and contributed. Henceforth, the researcher takes 215 respondents based on the sampling formula n = N/1+ (N (e2), where n is the sample size, N is the total number of students covered by the study, and e is the level of margin error or proportion of error likely to occur. Therefore, the total number of respondents recruited based on the sampling formula was 215, which is 46% of the total number of female students.

3.4. Data collection tools

The most important data source (primary data) for this study was collected through a pencil-and-paper questionnaire. The study followed the questionnaire format of the Copenhagen Psychological Study version and World Health Organization. In the study, the questions were modified to sensitize the female students to the study area’s community’s realities based on the French changed version in the format of Dupret et al. (2012) and altered in the Ethiopian context to investigate the major determinants of school-related gender-based violence and its socio-cultural associations. In an assessment regarding the questionnaires, the researcher developed and translated the English version to Amharic and retrieved it back to ensure its timely information. The questionnaires were modified by including ten items to bring the French version into Ethiopian communities' realities.

The modified questionnaires included sections on the respondents' socio-demographic information (age, religious affiliation, level of education, household number, place of residence, and marital status), the determinants of gender-based violence, the relationship between socio-cultural practice and gender-based violence, and the effects of gender-based violence on school social relationships. School-related gender-based violence scale and schemes of violence questionnaires developed by the Wang scale of measurements were used to investigate the effects of violence against women and its determinant. This scale had five dimensions: emotional abuse (EA), physical assault (PA), threat (T), verbal sexual abuse (ASA), and assault of sexual abuse (ASA). However, the emotional and verbal abuse scales were modified to reflect some of the consequences of violence against women (anxiety, underestimation, alcoholic dependence, and loss of confidence, loss of hope, withholding their opinion, inability to become strong leaders, rejection from peer friends, withdrawal from school, and inability to participate in group activities). Moreover, the physical assault, threat, and assault of sexual abuse scales were modified into the overt physical injury or harm results on the victims (Unwelcome sexual touch, kicking, pushing, slapping or throwing something on them, suicidal attempt, bullying). The scales in this research were altered to yes or no measurement level (Yes = 1, No = 0).

Besides, an in-depth interview (IDI), which is a semi-structured interview that looks more like an informal dialog with the informants, was administered. The research interviews were conducted from January 15-to-30. In this study, to determine the effect of gender-based violence on the social relationships among Wolkite secondary schools, the researcher had to have 13 interviews with students enrolled in grades nine and ten. The interview questions had a duration of 45 min with each student in the form of a one-to-one interview. The interviewees were selected by snowball sampling method and the researcher contacted female students who experience gender-based violence from their friends, teachers, and other nominations and recommendations. To promote the validity and reliability of required data, standardized measurements and instruments were used. Simultaneously, the pilot study was used to improve the quality of the questions; formats, arrangements, scales, and language were used to enhance the data’s validity. The researcher also utilized a standardized questionnaire that was translated into the English version into Amharic. Then it was retrieved back to ensure its convenient information. Besides, the instrument, content-wise, the arrangement was checked.

3.5. Variables

This research has used and labeled the influences and types of gender-based violence mentioned in the above figure as independent variables, such as harmful traditional practices such as early marriage, bullying, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and physical violence. The consequence that results from those factors is dependent variables such as; Lower academic performance, reduced self-worth, anxiety, depression, and having a low social network with the community and students and teachers are among the consequence penetrated as a result of gender-based violence. For instance, Briner (2008) stated that affection demands uttered aggression and affection dissonance. Briner (2008) specified that the C-2 (cooperation and communication) is also a pointer of social relations. The extraneous variables were controlled using the systematic statistical technique SPSS version 23.0.

3.6. Procedure and statistical analyses

The required data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis methods. However, data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics and narration (SPSS version 23). Every analysis of Quantitative data should begin by checking the accuracy of transcription of the data and the accuracy of translating the Amharic language (local language) to the English version (Maxwell, 2019; Morgan, 2019; Sanders, 2018). In this study, the researcher checked all the required data and clearly responded to and removed those that were incomplete and outliers. However, before analyzing the required data, the researcher was precautious about checking the accuracy of measurement, values, and labels used for the selected statistical model. The data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics (SPSS version 23). After completing the initial data entry process, the researcher started univariate analysis to compute and describe respondents' demographic profile to look at the response rate mean difference, frequency, and overall distribution of quantitative data. Binary logistic regression was used to test the determinant factors of gender-based violence with demographic variables. Although socio-cultural determinants of school-related gender-based violence, the data were patterned for EXP (B) to determine the confidence interval (CI) for the odds ratio of predictors influence in the equation. Data analysis of this model was completed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (IBM SPSS Statistics, version 23.0). The relationship between respondents' education levels (9th and 10th grades), male dominance in respondents' households, family attitudes towards promoting GBV, and cosmopolitanism was determined by a point-bi-serial correlation. Point-Bi-serial Correlation assumes the correlation analysis must exist between the dichotomy of variables and continuously scaled measurements. In this study, the education level of the respondents was measured using the dichotomy of grades 9 and 10. Domineering attitudes were measured using a high, medium, and low motivations to address gender inequality between men and women. Cosmopolitan variables were measured in terms of family habits of accepting students, friends, and other female supporters to enable women to protect themselves from the violence caused by male perpetrators. In this case, cosmopolitanism is measured using the following variables: Daily, once a week, twice a week, once a week, once a month. The qualitative data obtained from the in-depth interviews were analyzed through descriptive narration and thematic analysis, triangulating with quantitative data.

4. Results and discussions

4.1. Demographic background

Table 2 shows that the study was aimed at investigating the socio-cultural implications of school-related gender-based violence so that the researcher primarily made his respondents female who enrolled in the Wolkite town secondary schools. Besides, most of the respondents are between the ages of 20–24. 51.6% of the mean age and SD value of respondents are (Mean = 1.51, SD = .50). In terms of religious compositions (Mean = 1.47, SD = .50), the Orthodox religion followers are 113 (52.6%). Concerning Martial status (Mean = 1.69, SD = .46034), we can say that most of the respondents are not married 150 (69.8%). The respondents' household size (Mean = 3.19, SD = .90), those who have between 6-to-7 family members the most. In the end, in terms of the level of education of respondents in the study (Mean = 1.68, SD = 0.47), most of the respondents are 10th-grade attendants. The table depicts the resident place of the female students' families (Mean = 1.72, SD = .44). Most of the students are from the rural areas of the study areas 156 (72.6%). Regarding the students' educational performances (Mean = 1.53, SD = .66), more than half of respondents found the level of good and above 120 (55.8%). Following that, 75 (34.9) percent of the students are at the level of normal.

Table 2.

Descriptive statistics on the socio-demographic status of respondents N = 215.

NO Socio-demographic backgrounds Variables Values Frequency Percent Mean SD
1 Gender
Female 215 100%
2 Age of Respondents 1.51 .50
15–19 104 48.4
20–24 111 51.6
3 Religious Affiliation 1.47 .50
Orthodox 113 52.6
Muslim 102 47.4
Total 215 100
4 Marital status 1.69 .46
Never married 150 69.8
Married 65 30.2
5 Household size 3.19 .90
2–3 16 7.4
4–5 23 10.7
6–7 80 37.2
Above 7 96 44.7
6 Level of Education 9th grade 33 32.4 1.68 .47
10th grade 69 67.6
7 Educational performance 1.5349 .66
Good and overhead 120 55.8
Normal 75 34.9
Poor 20 9.3
8 Place of residence 1.72 .44
Urban resident 59 27.4
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Table 3 shows that concerning household size, female students who had many family members ranging from six to seven (UOR = 2.44, 95% CI [2.03, 2.68]; AOR = 2.36, 95% CI [.18, 0.19]) and above six family members (UOR = 3.76, 95% CI [3.35, 5.01]); AOR = 3.85, 95% CI [3.67, 4.35]) were more likely to be affected by gender-based violence than those who had two to three and four to five family members. Concerning the religious affiliations of respondents, Protestants were more than once influenced by school-related gender-based violence than those who followed the religions of Orthodox and Muslims (UOR = 1.75, 95% CI [1.10, 2.76]; AOR = 1.49, 95% CI [0.47, 0.57]). The marital status showed that the female students who are not married in the study areas are more than three times as altered by school-related gender-based violence than those who are divorced and married (UOR = 3.78, 95% CI [3.65, 3.99]; AOR = 3.85, 95%CI [3.67, 4.35]). Concerning the level of education, the study was conducted at the Wolkite town secondary schools. However, the table has shown that the 10th-grade female students are two times and more than further prospective to be vulnerable than the remaining other students (UOR = 2.11, 95% CI [0.99, 2.34]; AOR = 2.17, 95% CI [2.01, 3.25]). In terms of the educational performance of the students, the table also depicts that female students who have average or normal performance in the class and school are more than three times vulnerable to the specific forms of gender-based violence than those who have good and poor performances (UOR = 3.30, 95% CI [0.62, 17.51]; AOR = 3.30, 95% CI [0.62, 17.51]). The place of residents where the students came from is also the other determinant variable. In doing so, the table illustrates that those who come from the rural areas of the study area are more than two-time prospective to be victimized by school-related gender-based violence than the urban residents (UOR = 2.00, 95% CI [1.89, 2.33]; AOR = 2.02, 95% CI [1.08, 3.79]). The table has also shown that the significant number of students affected by school-related gender-based violence concerning lack of the societal motive to address the supremacy of male students over women, which accounts (UOR = 6.10, 95% CI [2.49, 14.93]; AOR = 4.00, 95% CI [0.27, 56). Amongst the variables, early marriage and women’s lack of resistance have contributed less compared to the other variables, which are (AOR = 2.11, 95% CI [0.99, 2.34]), and (AOR = 2.32, 95% CI [0.22, 0.29]) respectively. Finally, the table illustrated school-related gender-based violence resulting from sexual harassment perpetrated by male students accounts for more than four times (U OR = 4.16, 95% CI [0.93, 18.54]; AOR = 4.47, 95% CI [4.04, 4.77]). Above all, the p-value of those variables has shown that they statistically significantly determine the level of gender-based violence in the study areas, where p < .005.

Table 3.

Table Logistic regression analysis on the determinant factors for gender-based violence with demographic variables and sociocultural facets. n = 215.

Respondents
Socio-demographic variables		 Values UOR 95% C.I. for UOR
 AOR 95% C.I. for AOR
 P-value
Upper Lower Upper Lower
Household size 1 (ref) 1.0 1.0
2–3 0.77 [0.56, 0.94] 1.36 [.11, 1.57] 0.00∗∗
4–5 1.21 [0.98, 1.34] 1.50 [.20, 1.80] 0.05∗
6–7 2.44 [2.03, 2.68] 2.36 [.18, .19] 0.00∗∗
Above 7 3.76 [3.35, 5.01] 3.85 [3.67, 4.35] 0.00∗∗
Religious Affiliations Orthodox 1.0 1.0
Muslims 0.49 [0.47, 0.57] 0.44 [0.37, 0.65] 0.00∗∗
Protestant 1.75 [1.10, 2.76] 1.49 [0.47, 0.57] 0.01∗
Marital status Never-married 2.78 [2.65, 2.99] 3.85 [3.67, 4.35] 0.00∗∗
Married 0.24 [0.21, 0.21] 0.33 [0.29, 0.41 0.02∗
Divorced (ref) 1.0 1.0
Level of Educations 9th grade 1.0 1.0
10th grade 2.11 [0.99, 2.3] 2.17 [2.01, 3.25] 0.02∗∗
Educational performance Good and overhead 2.18 [1.26, 3.77] 1.75 [1.10, 2.76] 0.00∗∗
Normal 3.30 [0.62, 17.51] 3.30 [0.62, 17.51] 0.02∗
Poor 1.0 1.0
Place of residence Urban resident 1.0 1.0
Rural resident (in the periphery) 2.00 [1.89, 2.33] 2.02 [1.08, 3.79] 0.00∗∗
Patriarchal ideology and forms of GBV Women lack resistance 2.13 [1.17, 3.88] 2.32 [.22, .29] 0.00∗∗
Lack of societal motive to address male supremacy 6.10 [2.49, 14.93] 4.00 [.27, .56] 0.05∗
Early marriage 2.24 [1.52, 3.31] 2.11 [0.99, 2.34] 0.00∗∗
Domestic violence 3.01 [1.89, 4.79] 3.00 [1.98, 3.45] 0.00∗∗
School factors Sexual harassment was perpetrated by the male student. 4.16 [0.93, 18.54] 4.47 [4.04, 4.77] 0.00∗∗
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Note. Ref = Reference category; CI = confidence interval; ∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .01.

In addition, one of the participants in the interview revealed that “….males are the future heads of the family due to the patriarchal idealism that favors male students over female students and the lack of social incentives to tackle the issue of male dominance. In addition, because women are not reluctant to be exploited by men vs. women, the causes of gender-based violence that affect women’s school performance support male students vs. female students and women’s school performance. It is a patriarchal ideology that influences.” Interviewees also vehemently condemned the tradition of maintaining male superiority and female inferiority at both the family and community levels. They found that the main reason for gender-based violence was the dominant behavior of men, starting at home (family) and later rewarded by the community, and ultimately of government officials in the implementation of legal action. They agreed that there was intolerance and a lack of school principals to take legal action against the perpetrator.

Table 5 shows a statistically significant positive correlation between the male dominance of the house in augmenting gender-based violence and the educational level (grade 9 and 10) they enroll r= .454∗∗, P= .002. The educational level explains 20.6% of the variation in gender-based violence in the school as the number of children in the household increase or decreases.

Table 4.

The correlation between the Educational level and GBV Domineering attitude of their families, n = 215.

Educational level The domineering attitude of their families to promote GBV
Educational level Pearson Correlation 1 −.24∗
Sig. (2-tailed) .047
N 215 215
The domineering eattitude of their families to promote GBV Pearson Correlation −.24∗ 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .047
N 215 215
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The results in Table 4 indicate that there is a negative correlation between respondent Educational level and the domineering attitude of their families to promote GBV r = −.24∗, P = 0.4, ​with respondents' educational level (students from grades 9 and 10), explaining 5.9% of the variation in creating the domineering attitude in promoting gender-based violence.

∗Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

∗∗Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 5.

The correlation between the educational level and cosmopolitanisms.

Educational level Male dominance
Educational level Pearson Correlation 1 .45∗
Sig. (2-tailed) .002
N 215 215
Male dominance (based on the number of male children in the households) Pearson Correlation .45∗ 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .002
N 215 215
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∗Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

∗∗Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Here, Table 6 augments the household income has significantly correlated with the household income to address the problem of gender-based violence in the school r = .32∗, P = 0.31, with the households, explaining 10.4% variation in dealing with the school gender-based violence as household income decrease or increases. In the interview, like Wondimu’s finding, female students severely blamed the patriarchal ideology that supports males' pre-eminence in the community. They argue that gender-prejudiced norms endorse the certainty concerning which males are more influential than females. They can demonstrate their supremacy because they are more robust, and public power is molded by the detained belief that encourages male power among females. This makes women susceptible or oppressed to gender-based violence. Besides, another interview participant stated that, "...... Of course, many people in the community do not want the direct benefits of girls in terms of education and are not satisfied with their education. When she becomes married, Participation in education is useless to families because they believe that females focus on their husband’s family rather than looking out of the house. Therefore, the community usually underestimates them and their students. ".

Table 6.

The correlation between educational level and household income.

Educational level Household income
Educational level Pearson Correlation 1 .32∗
Sig. (2-tailed) .03
N 215 215
Household income Pearson Correlation .32∗ 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .03
N 215 215
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∗Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

∗∗Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table 7 indicates that most female students received an unwelcome sexual touch 75 (73.5%). The table also shows that female students were also pushed or shoved while pursuing educational attainments and revealing their real feelings about everything they wish to entail 58 (56.9%). The required question presented to the respondents answered that in the school, females were verbally abused using several dangerous materials 72 (70.6%). The informants also revealed that they were rejected while having smooth relations with their male friends or schoolmates. Finally, the table shows that due to different gender-based violence, most of the respondents had a sense of losing hope and feeling that they had a meaningless life than the male students. As they are expressed in the in-depth interview, these and other forms of GBV factors influence educational attainments and distort their dreams of what they want to be in the future. In the interview, the informants asserted that the specific gender-based violence that affects female students' educational attainment resulted from the school’s male students. Moreover, informants suggest that females' lack of skills to negotiate with school-related gender-based violence feelings of dependency accounts for a triggering factor for women’s educational attainment in school. Interviewees claimed that gender-based violence causes female students to drop out, and some informants said female students would drop out of school due to premature and unwilling marriages.

Table 7.

Effects of School-related violence on social relationships and forms of gender-based violence.

Observed Yes (%) No (%)
Have you ever been faced with unwelcome Touch sexually? 75 (73.5) 27 (26.5)
Have you ever been forced to have sex that you have escaped? 44 (43.1) 58 (56.9)
Have you ever been slapped or thrown something at you that could injure you? 18 (17.6) 84 (82.4)
Have you ever been Pushed or Shoved? 58 (56.9) 44 (43.1)
Have you ever been Kicked or Dragged? 9 (8.8) 93 (91.2)
Have you ever been threatened verbally or actually by using a firearm, knife, or other weapons alongside you? 72 (70.6) 30 (29.4)
Have you faced the issue of underestimation based on your femininity? 47 (46.1) 55 (53.9)
Have you faced Rejection from male perpetrators? 71 (69.6) 31 (30.4)
Have you ever been Alcohol dependency/abuse based on gender-based Violence 23 (22.5) 79 (77.5)
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5. Discussion

Several studies have been conducted concerning the extensiveness of school-related violence in Africa and in Ethiopia, such as (A. Muche et al., 2017; Dunne et al., 2006; Lunneblad and Johansson, 2019; Mennicke et al., 2019; Muluneh et al., 2021). However, they have a simplistic view of the problem at the expense of mere qualitative methods and are incapable of looking at the community side’s problem. They couldn’t give enough attention to the societal and cultural factors for school-related gender-based violence. This study’s primary aim or contribution lies in its attempt to examine the determinant factors for the educational attainment of female students in secondary schools and to see the correlation between the socio-cultural factors for gender-based violence and its effect on social relationships.

5.1. Determinant factors for school-related gender-based violence

According to the findings of this study, household size, religious affiliations, and marital status are the primary determinants of female students being victimized by gender-based violence at school. The result is supported by the finding of (Maher and Segrave, 2018; Rodrigues et al., 2016). Their findings stated that families with more people in the household, particularly the male residents, aggravate gender inequalities, resulting in male dominance over women. The findings of Gomes et al. (2015) and Umana et al. (2014) also support this study’s result. They assert that the students' religious background and customary practices have a huge devastating impact on females not getting spiritual and emotional support because of the hazardous gender-selective spiritual beliefs.

Also, this study showed that single or non-married students are more likely to have a flunk with risky school-related gender-based violence. Anochie and Ikpeme (2001) and Tantu et al. (2020) have shown that more single students are vulnerable to school-related gender-based violence than married couples in Nigeria as well as Ethiopia. This is because the male perpetrators feel that the single students have a deterrent or supporter. However, the perpetrators fear touching or scandalizing the married female students because of the return action they would receive from their spouses or husbands. The present study’s finding revealed that female students who have average or normal performance in class and school are over three times more vulnerable to the specific forms of gender-based violence than those who have excellent and poor performances.

This research has shown that residents' places where the students come from are also the other determinant variable. In doing so, students who come from the rural areas of the study area are over twice as prospective to be victimized by school-related gender-based violence than urban residents. Also, the significant number of students affected by school-related gender-based violence is related to a lack of social motives to address male students' supremacy. To support this finding, the result of Wondimu on the Aba-Fransua secondary school students of Wolkite town asserts that the community living in the study area is more likely to refuse to have social motives to address gender discriminatory norms. Rodrigues et al.’s (2016) findings support this study because the community in ESF prevents females from needing care and confronts them with the challenge of being a supporter for women in situations of violence and being heard in society. Concerning school factors, the present study revealed that school-related gender-based violence resulting from sexual harassment perpetrated by male students accounts for over four times more than any other school factors. The findings of Desalegne (2018) and Astin and Smith (2021) support this study result. According to them, the school’s male perpetrators usually impair female students by hugging them without permission, personal gossip, scandalizing their physique, and verbal abuse (Kaufman et al., 2019). also agreed that female students at Ethiopian universities were harassed because they used shared spaces in the school, such as libraries and dining halls. Male perpetrators frequently harass females or experience intimidation and threats, including physical violence. As a result, most female students engaged in a relationship because of the fear of forceful retaliation if they declined the male advances.

5.2. The relationship between educational level and socio-cultural practices

The present study has also shown that there is a negative correlation between Educational level and domineering attitude of their families to promote GBV or a downward sloping linear relationship between the educational level of respondents and domineering attitude of respondent’s families'. The study showed a statistically significant positive correlation between the community’s patriarchal ideology (male dominance) in augmenting gender-based violence and respondents' educational level. There are also similar supportive research findings conducted by Banda (2019), Beyene et al. (2021a, 2021b), Bisika (2008) and Sikweyiya et al. (2020). The results of this survey also show that the household income of students is related to their level of education. Increasing household income reduces the tendency of girls' families to negotiate gender-based violence, and conversely, lower household income makes women vulnerable to unwanted marriages and other acts of violence by male perpetrators. According to them, in developing countries, there are plenty of gender-discriminatory forms of violence resulting from patriarchal ideologies, which have to make males stronger and have supremacy in power over the females in the community. These practices start at home and are followed in school and create more challenges for females' educational attainment in school. Young women who attend their schooling often engage in unwanted violence resulting from male perpetrators. These cultural practices imply unequal gender roles that expose females to gender-based violence. Therefore, this finding implies that covert societal practices have tremendous effects on the overall rate of gender-based violence. The other implication is that the supremacy of males over women emanated from the community’s gender-selective norms. This practice then makes women susceptible or oppressed to gender-based violence. As a result, these findings confirmed that school-related gender-based violence was caused by hidden hideous social customs, implying that it is a highly related problem to the socioeconomic backgrounds of vulnerable women.

5.3. Effects of gender-based violence on social relationship

Regarding forms of gender-based violence and its effect on social relationships. The result of this study implies that gender-based violence creates psycho-social issues among female students that hinder them from living their dream and what they ought to be, such as loss of confidence, personal dependency, loss of self-worth, lack of strong commitment, and a feeling of having no roles or functions in society. As they are expressed in the in-depth interview, these and other forms of GBV factors influence educational attainments and distort their dreams of what they want to be in the future. Moreover, informants suggest that females' lack of skills to negotiate with school-related gender-based violence feelings of dependency accounts as a triggering factor for women’s educational attainment in school. In support of this result, Dunne et al. (2006), Taylor et al. (2010), and Chitrali (2015) have argued that the forms of gender-based violence that often occur among high school and college students are primarily stigma-related. These factors lead females to pay less attention to their future and lose hope in changing themselves through education. Also, this study revealed that most female students received unwelcome sexual touch, were pushed or shoved, was verbally abused, and faced rejection while they want to form a good social relationship with their schoolmates. This finding is supported by Tantu et al. (2020). Accordingly, they argued that in Wolyta Sodo secondary schools, most female students suffered from school-related gender-based violence. Most violence-related problems result in plenty of social problems, including rejections from their colleagues and high male dependency. This study’s finding implies that gender-based violence, which seems very simple and fun for male perpetrators, has a huge devastating impact on having a rough relationship with their classmates, families, and society. Above all, this study assessment revealed that, of course, there are hidden and hideous factors for gender-based violence. These ugly practices also have various consequences, but the findings strongly imply that, among the other described consequences, gender-based violence has enormous effects on the reduction of educational fulfillment of females in school.

5.4. Study’s limitation

There are some limitations to the finding of this study. The participants were not willing to provide their inflictions related to gender-based violence. Their unwillingness to explicitly express their sufferings makes this study not have external validity. Therefore, the extent of external validity remains unclear, so further qualitative research is required to openly discuss and get rich data from female students about the issue. Secondly, although the target area secondary schools are found in Wolkite town, it was difficult to frequently contact respondents due to the area’s remoteness. Thirdly, there was a lack of comprehensive data and studies conducted in the study area. Fourth, the researcher used a cross-sectional study design. However, using this study design, it was difficult to know the prevalence rate of violent behavior that the female students suffered from and unable to know the cause and effect relationships or analysis.

6. Conclusion

The present study aimed to investigate the determinant factors for female students' educational fulfillment in Wolkite town secondary schools of Wolkite, Ethiopia. The study also aimed to assess the correlation between socio-cultural factors for gender-based violence and educational attainment. Based on the finding of this study, the researcher concluded that female students' household size impacts the level of gender-based violence they are addressed. Students who have six to seven or more family members are more likely to be influenced by gender-based violence than those who have two to three and four to five family members. The study also considers a statistically substantial correlation between the community’s patriarchal ideologies in augmenting gender-based violence and the cultural norms that society entertains. Thus, the patriarchal society that promotes male supremacy over females makes them vulnerable to different forms of embarrassment and shame in the things they are doing. In the meantime, the study revealed that, based on gender-based violence, most of the respondents had a sense of losing hope and feeling they had no meaningful life than the male students. As they are expressed in the in-depth interview, these and other forms of GBV factors influence educational attainments and distort their dreams of what they want to be in the future. In the interview, the informants asserted that the specific gender-based violence that affects female students' educational attainment resulted from the school’s male students. Therefore, the existing findings warrant further investigation to address the study area’s problem and across vulnerable places. To enhance female students' completeness, the researcher recommends that responsible policymakers or personnel engage in the community downward.

Declarations

Author contribution statement

Habtamu Wondimu: Conceived and designed the experiments; Performed the experiments; Analyzed and interpreted the data; Contributed reagents, materials, analysis tools or data; Wrote the paper.

Funding statement

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data included in article/supp. material/referenced in article.

Declaration of interest’s statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Supplementary content related to this article has been published online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10006.

Appendix A. Supplementary data

The following is the supplementary data related to this article:

Multimedia component 1
mmc1.docx (21.5KB, docx)

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