How gender norms are reinforced through violence against adolescent girls in two conflict-affected populations
Abstract
Violence against women and girls is a global concern, and particularly salient in humanitarian settings. Successful efforts to prevent gender-based violence in humanitarian settings must address a wide range of issues, from discriminatory laws to explicit community support for violence, and yet, at the core of these efforts is reducing oppressive gender and social norms. This study examined local attitudes towards and social norms around responding to physical and sexual abuse of girls through interviews conducted with adolescent girls (n = 66) and with caregivers (n = 58) among two conflict-affected populations: villages in South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudanese and South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopian camps. The findings suggest how communities use violence as a tool to enforce the importance of girls practicing community-defined "good" adolescent girl behavior, and have implications for gender-based violence programming among other conflict-affected populations.
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Poorly constructed shelters, latrines located far away, shared bathrooms, lack of fencing, poor lighting at night, and lack of security personnel were perceived as increasing the risk of sexual and gender-based violence.
“Poorly constructed shelters, latrines being located far away, men and women having to share the same bathrooms, a lack of fencing surrounding camps to deter intruders, poor lighting at night, and a lack of security personnel were all perceived as increasing the risk of sexual and gender-based violence (Ager et al., 2018;Freedman, 2016;Sommer et al., 2018;Qayum et al., 2012).”
From Sexual and gender-based violence against South Sudanese refugees in Uganda: a mixed-methods study (2025) · cites this paper as Sommer et al., 2018
Cultural beliefs around the acceptability and normalization of violence in the home and workplace were also mentioned.
“Cultural beliefs around the acceptability and normalization of violence in the home and workplace were also mentioned (Ager at al., 2018;Wringe et al., 2019;Sommer et al., 2018;Horn, 2010;Wachter et al., 2018).”
From Sexual and gender-based violence against South Sudanese refugees in Uganda: a mixed-methods study (2025) · cites this paper as Sommer et al., 2018
Cites
A Systematic Review of Prevalence Studies of Gender-Based Violence in Complex Emergencies
Stark, L., & Ager, A. (2011) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/1524838011404252 · Cited by 386 · see citing works
Self-citationVu, A., Adam, A., Wirtz, A., Pham, K., Rubenstein, L., Glass, N., Beyrer, C., & Singh, S. (2014) · PLoS Currents · doi:10.1371/currents.dis.835f10778fd80ae031aac12d3b533ca7 · Cited by 300 · see citing works
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Wringe, A., Yankah, E., Parks, T., Mohamed, O., Saleh, M., Speed, O., Hémono, R., Relyea, B., Ibrahim, M., Sandhu, J. S., et al. (2019) · BMC Women's Health · doi:10.1186/s12905-019-0710-9 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Sexual and gender-based violence against South Sudanese refugees in Uganda: a mixed-methods study
Michaelsen, S. (2025) · Université de Montréal · doi:10.71781/1596
- Authors
- Sommer, M., Muñoz-Laboy, M., Williams, A., Mayevskaya, Y., Falb, K., Abdella, G., & Stark, L.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- International Rescue Committee (US)
- International Rescue Committee (ET)
- Corresponding author
- Sommer, Marni
- Venue
- Child Abuse & Neglect
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-05
- Volume
- 79
- Pages
- 154-163
- ISSN
- 0145-2134 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2791945842
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 11.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Child Abuse & Neglect (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- UK Department for International Development (DFID)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Security, and Conflict
- Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
- Keywords
- gender norms, gender-based violence, conflict-affected populations, humanitarian settings, sexual abuse, physical abuse, community attitudes, caregivers, refugee camps, South Kivu, Sudanese refugees, South Sudanese refugees, gender-based violence prevention
- MeSH terms
- South Sudan, Adolescent, Adult, Altruism, Attitude to Health, Conflict, Psychological, Female, Humans, Male, Refugees, Reinforcement, Psychology, Sex Offenses, Violence, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Caregivers, Social Norms
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