The Role of Education for the Gender-Based Violence Prevention. Qualitative Study in Lamu, Kenya

Abstract

Each year, 15 million girls continue to marry before reaching the age of majority (UNICEF, 2020a); This is one of the violence´s manifestation and gender inequality that women suffer, with other types of violence such as physical, sexual and economic. In Kenya, the context in which we focus our contribution, 35% of young women under the age of 19 have already had their first child (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 2015). Starting from these premises and taking into account that education is a tool to combat gender-based violence («GBV»), the research that we present has as one of its main objectives to analyze the influence of education in the prevention of GBV, especially in the child marriage, as well as economic violence or sexual abuse from the point of view of women and young people of different origins ethnic. To achieve the objectives, we will use a qualitative methodology, using the interview (in depth and semi-structured) with women and key agents as the main instrument for collecting information. The study is contextualized in Lamu, the island of Kenya. In the conclusions we establish that, although educational processes and content must still be reviewed to avoid the transmission of discriminatory gender stereotypes, education is a strategy to delay child marriages, prevent other manifestations of GBV and is conceived as a way to achieve women´s economic independence.