Gender and Sexuality Commons^™

Addis Birhan Project: Working With Boys And Men To Address Young Girls' Social Vulnerability, Annabel Erulkar, Louis Apicella, Abebaw Ferede

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In Ethiopia, the Ethiopia Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Amhara Regional Bureau of Youth and Sports, and the Population Council implemented programs for vulnerable girls. As these programs increased in popularity, demand for support programs arose from husbands. Qualitative, in-depth interviews were undertaken among adolescents, men, and women in the Amhara Region, exploring the roles of men and women, risk-taking behavior, and patterns of HIV and reproductive health vulnerability. Addis Birhan (“New Light”), a program of the Regional Bureaus of Youth and Sports in Amhara and Tigray and the Population Council for rural men in Ethiopia, targets married men …

Protecting Young People From Sex Without Consent, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Over the last decade, a growing body of evidence has laid to rest any illusion that the young are protected from unwanted sexual advances or forced sex both within and outside of marriage. Studies have established the prevalence of unwanted sex within marriage among young women and its risk factors; the association between poverty and forced sex among adolescent girls in South Africa; levels and correlates of forced sex reported by young people in Ethiopia and Kenya. Evidence has established that sex without consent among the young exists in every region of the world, and that girls, as well as …

Empowering Adolescent Girls In Rural Bangladesh: Kishori Abhijan, Sajeda Amin

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In 2001, UNICEF initiated a pilot intervention to test whether livelihoods opportunities could ameliorate early marriage and other adverse outcomes for girls in rural Bangladesh. Kishori Abhijan (“Adolescent Girls’ Adventure”) aimed to lower school dropout rates, increase girls’ independent economic activity, and raise the age at which girls marry. Life-skills training consisted of enhancing self-esteem and leadership skills and providing education related to gender roles and discrimination, health and nutrition, and legislation and legal rights, particularly early marriage and girls’ and women’s rights. Livelihoods training included vocational skills. As noted in Promoting Healthy, Safe, and Productive Transitions to Adulthood Brief …

Girls' Schooling In Developing Countries: Highlights From Population Council Research, Cynthia B. Lloyd

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

As more girls from developing countries attend school into their teens, the importance of schooling experiences and school quality for adolescent sexual and reproductive health, as well as for girls’ successful transitions to adult roles, is clear. The Population Council’s research on schooling seeks to foster a deeper understanding of the patterns and trends in schooling for girls and more particularly the relationship between experiences in school, school quality, and various adolescent outcomes. Promoting Healthy, Safe, and Productive Transitions to Adulthood Brief No. 24 summarizes highlights from this research program under five subtopics: the demography of schooling; school attendance and …

Expanding Safe Spaces, Financial Education, And Savings For Adolescent Girls In Kenya, Karen Austrian

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Almost 1 billion people around the globe live in urban informal settlements, or “slums.” In Kenya, 60 percent of Nairobi’s nearly 3 million inhabitants live in slum areas characterized by high levels of poverty and HIV. Kibera is the largest of these slums. Life is particularly perilous for adolescent girls in slums, as they make their transition to adulthood. Girls are several times more likely than their male age-mates to become infected with HIV, and sexual initiation for girls often occurs in the context of violence and coercion. Poverty is a driving force behind these and other vulnerabilities. As described …

Investigating School Quality And Learning Outcomes Among Adolescents In Malawi, Christine A. Kelly

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Education, particularly at the primary level, has long been regarded as an essential input of social and economic development. In addition to its role in increasing the cognitive abilities of students, schooling is recognized as a facilitator of labor force participation, female empowerment, improved health outcomes, and greater civic engagement. As one of the early pioneers in sub-Saharan Africa of free primary education, Malawi’s enrollment figures compare favorably with those of its neighbors in southern Africa. However, as noted in Promoting Healthy, Safe, and Productive Transitions to Adulthood Brief No. 34, primary school completion rates stand at just 35 percent, …

La Estrategia Del Population Council: Promoción De Transiciones A La Vida Adulta Sanas, Seguras Y Productivas, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Este informe sobre la “Promoción de transiciones a la edad adulta: Sanas, seguras y productivas” proporciona una visión general del enfoque del Population Council sobre los adolescentes que comenzó a principios de la década de 1990. El enfoque se ha visto acompañado por un compromiso de trasladar el campo de la investigación y los programas de adolescentes de uno que a menudo se enfoca en la sexualidad, la salud reproductiva y el comportamiento a uno que contemple los problemas sociales y económicos más amplios que constituyen la base de la salud y el bienestar de los adolescentes. En 1998, con …

Preparación De Las Niñas Mayas Para Mejorar Su Calidad De Vida, Jennifer Catino, Alejandra Colom, Marta Julia Ruiz

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

La población de Guatemala es más pobre, menos educada, de crecimiento más acelerado y étnicamente más diversa que la mayoría de los demás países en América Latina. Las tasas de fertilidad y mortalidad infantil del país son unas de las más altas en la región. Casi la mitad de la población de Guatemala es aborigen, y más de 20 grupos étnicos mayas viven en áreas rurales aisladas, con acceso limitado a servicios básicos como agua, higiene, caminos escuelas y cuidado de la salud. Las niñas mayas son el grupo menos favorecido del país, que llevan vidas caracterizadas por una escolaridad …

Retarder Le Mariage Précoce Chez Les Filles Défavorisées En Milieu Rural Dans La Région Amhara, En Éthiopie, Grâce Au Soutien Social, À L'Éducation Et À La Sensibilisation Des Communautés, Eunice N. Muthengi, Annabel Erulkar

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

L'Éthiopie affiche des taux extrêmement élevés de mariage d'enfants et une épidémie de VIH qui touche les femmes de façon disproportionnée. Dans la région rurale d'Amhara, 50% des filles sont mariées avant l’âge de 15 ans et plus de 80% sont mariées avant l’âge de 18 ans. Les chercheurs ont réalisé une enquête auprès de plus de 1800 adolescentes dans la région d'Amhara. Sur la base des conclusions, en 2004, le Bureau Régional de la Jeunesse et des Sports d'Amhara et le Population Council ont créé le projet Berhane Hewan («Light for Eve»). L'objectif de Berhane Hewan est la mise …

Biruh Tesfa Procure Aux Employées Domestiques, Aux Orphelines Et Aux Immigrantes Des Zones Urbaines Éthiopiennes Une Assistance Sociale, Une Formation Sur Le Vih Ainsi Qu'un Programme De Développement Des Compétences, Annabel Erulkar, Belaynesh Semunegus, Gebeyehu Mekonnen

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

En Éthiopie, l'épidémie de VIH se révèle de plus importante en milieu urbaine et chez la population féminine. On estime que 7,7% de la population urbaine d'Éthiopie est séropositive, par rapport à moins de 1% de la population rurale. À l'échelle nationale, le rapport femme/homme en termes d'infection par le VIH est de 3 à 2. Il est possible que les filles qui migrent depuis les zones rurales vers les milieux urbains soient moins protégées, plus vulnérables à la violence et aux agressions sexuelles, et également moins bien équipées pour se prémunir contre ces situations d’abus (toutes susceptibles d’accroître le …

Élargir L'Accès Des Adolescentes Aux Espaces Sécurisés, À L'Éducation Financière Et Aux Produits D'Épargne Au Kenya, Karen Austrian

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Près d'un milliard de personnes vivent dans des implantations urbaines sauvages et informelles, à savoir des «bidonvilles». Au Kenya, 60% des quelques 3 millions d’habitants de Nairobi vivent dans des taudis caractérisés par des niveaux élevés de pauvreté et de VIH. Kibera est le plus grand de ces bidonvilles. La vie est particulièrement dangereuse pour les adolescentes dans les bidonvilles, car elles font leur transition vers l'âge adulte. Les filles sont davantage susceptibles que les garçons du même âge d'être infectées par le VIH, et l'initiation sexuelle des jeunes filles se produit souvent dans le contexte de violence et de …

Factors Of Career Mobility In Egypt By Gender, May Gadallah

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This Population Council working paper describes the opportunity cost of women’s participation in the labor market in Egypt, a critical determinant of not only participating in the labor market, but also of continuing in it. The paper observes career mobility and job-to-job turnover by gender; it also looks at career development over a period of time and analyzes the impact of different factors on career development. The importance of the results increases with the privatization trend in the Egyptian economy. Findings show that 90 percent of women work in the public sector where career paths are similar regardless of gender; …

Female Genital Mutilation Practices In Kenya: The Role Of Alternative Rites Of Passage. A Case Study Of Kisii And Kuria Districts, Habil Oloo, Monica Wanjiru, Katy Newell-Jones

Reproductive Health

This research was undertaken by the Population Council to better understand female genital mutilation (FGM) as currently practiced by the Kuria and Kisii communities in Kenya. The study investigated current attitudes and practices in relation to FGM, awareness and attitudes toward the alternative rite of passage (ARP), and factors which encourage individuals to make decisions to abandon FGM. The findings show that FGM is still a celebrated public event among the Kuria, whereas in Kisii, it is a private family affair. The study suggests that the success of ARP as an approach to abandoning FGM is strongly dependent on the …

The Prevention And Management Of Hiv And Sexual And Gender-Based Violence: Responding To The Needs Of Survivors And Those-At-Risk, Sarah Raifman, Ian Askew, Sajeda Amin, Jill Keesbury, Saiqa Mullick, Judith A. Diers, Meiwita P. Budiharsana, Chi-Chi Undie, Mary Zama, Mantshi Menziwa, Sherry Hutchinson, Naomi Rutenberg

Reproductive Health

The Population Council seeks to understand the social, economic, political, and physical context of risks for sexual and gender-based violence and HIV. Among the top priorities of Council research are supporting and evaluating efforts to prevent violence and HIV, including creating safe spaces for adolescent girls, and working with men and boys to change gender norms within the community; and comprehensively responding to the needs of survivors (including those who are HIV-infected) by strengthening health systems and integrating services. The purpose of this guide is to provide practical guidance on the steps necessary to establish and strengthen sexual violence (SV) …

Women As Subject And Audience In World War Ii Venereal Disease Posters, Kyra Whitton

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Internationally, venereal disease first became a major health concern during World War I. Venereal diseases were some of the most common infections and led to more hospitalizations among soldiers than wounds or battle-related illness. The Selective Service discovered that almost fifteen percent of those who were eligible for the draft were already infected with a venereal disease, sparking an intense anti-venereal disease campaign across America. Red-light districts were shut down, and American cities sought new laws that would criminalize prostitution to protect young men from contracting a venereal infection.

Though venereal disease rates were still high during World War II, …

Percepciones De Género En La Medicina Mapuche: Machi, Matriarca, Y Colonización, Krista Douglass

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Gender is a social ordering principle; a definition of masculinity and femininity according to an individual culture. While in Chile gender identity is often shaped by machismo, the Mapuche cosmovision is without gender disparities. Rather, relationships between men and women are governed by principles of equality and duality, just as the Mapuche deities balance both male and female energies. Women hold very important roles in the community as the leaders of the medical community. Although both men and women participate in various roles within this profession, machi, the spiritual healers, are mostly women. Males, or wentru machi, …

More Than Just Biology: Creating An Informational Website For Teens On Sexuality And Lifelong Sexual Health, Sarah Cyr-Mutty

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

“More Than Just Biology – Creating an informational website for teens on sexuality and lifelong sexual health” is the product of four weeks’ research in Amsterdam, NL on sexuality education and the use of the Internet as an educational tool for youth. The research defied a “Dutch approach” to sexuality education and used it to create a website for American teenagers to get confidential and accurate information regarding their sexual lives and health. Information was gathered primarily through personal interviews, as well as a review of existing literature on the subject. Through this research, it was found that the Dutch …

Bridging The Gap: Identifying Social Factors That Affect The Knowledge Of Sexually Transmitted Infections And Use Of Prevention Methods In Young Women, Ariel Spigel

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study investigates the social factors that affect the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) in young women, focusing on their knowledge of the subject and use of prevention methods in order to discover why STIs, though preventable, are still prevalent in the lives of young adults, and more often, young women. Sixty-one anonymous, closed questionnaires were distributed to female students of at least eighteen years at the Colegio Estadual Francisco da Conceição Menezes in Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia, Brazil, and six structured interviews were conducted with students from the same pool. Results showed varying levels of knowledge, educational …

The Feminization Of Hiv: Patriarchy As A Threat To Public Health In Ecuador – A Trans-Feminist Perspective, Fabián Espinosa Ma, Academic Director

Fostering Multicultural Competence and Global Justice: an SIT Symposium

This article attempts to analyze male sexual conduct in Ecuador and its determining role in the feminization of HIV. Male promiscuity, not only tolerated but celebrated by sexist discourse, severely impairs public health initiatives and remains one of the critical issues for both individuals and collectives struggling for structural changes in sexual politics. The exercise of citizenships, sustained by a new constitutional framework, embraces the principle of “subversion from within”, the only significant way of challenging heterosexist imaginaries and practices. This type of activism focuses on the formal and normative political dimension of sex and gender, but also and most …

Female Condom Knowledge, Attributes And Behavior: Barriers To Use And Potential For Acceptance Among Sexually Active Undergraduate Students, Paige Nuzzolillo 6368479

Honors Scholar Theses

Minimal research has been conducted on the acceptability of the female condom among college populations despite its existence in the world market since 1992. The FC2, an improved version of FC1, has recently been released in the United States, thus prompting the need for further acceptability studies. Due to increasingly high rates of STDs among those aged 15-24, every method of protection against STDs/HIV and pregnancy must be utilized. This study involved a campus-wide survey which examined University of Connecticut (Uconn) main campus (Storrs) undergraduate students’ knowledge of the female condom, perceptions of and attitudes towards the female condom as …

Social Categories And Health Care Outcomes: African American Women And Hiv Survival In The Urban South, Alyson J. O'Daniel

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This ethnographic research examines the daily life and institutional conditions under which low-income Black women in urban North Carolina perceived and attended to HIV health-related needs. I focus specifically on the interplay among women’s living conditions, programmatic service needs, and their strategies for navigating the local system of care to explore and refine the categorical label “low income.” I found that there were significant differences among study participants in terms of their monthly incomes and financial resources, housing quality and status, and personal experiences with incarceration and substance abuse. The economic differences among women translated into social differences within the …

A Step-By-Step Guide To Strengthening Sexual Violence Services In Public Health Facilities: Lessons And Tools From Sexual Violence Services In Africa, Jill Keesbury, Jill Thompson

Reproductive Health

Sexual violence (SV) is a serious health and human rights problem across Africa that disproportionately affects women and girls. Survivors require comprehensive and sensitive care to mitigate the negative health consequences of SV, minimize psychological trauma, and promote long-term reintegration and recovery. Despite high levels of sexual violence and a growing recognition of the need to improve the management of rape and sexual assault, many public health facilities in Africa do not currently have capacity to provide comprehensive, patient-centered SV care to adult and child survivors. Public facilities face numerous challenges including lack of specialized SV training, general understaffing and …

Building Programs To Address Child Marriage: The Berhane Hewan Experience In Ethiopia, Eunice N. Muthengi, Annabel Erulkar

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The development of a context-appropriate program to delay marriage in rural Ethiopia took place over many years and in stages. The program that ultimately became known as “Berhane Hewan” was developed by building an evidence base of understanding on the populations being served and developing partnerships between the Population Council and like-minded agencies with complementary expertise. The Berhane Hewan pilot demonstrated that significant impacts can be made on the social, educational, and health status of adolescent girls in a short period of time, through well designed and implemented support programs. However, high levels of exposure to all project components, make …

Girl-Centered Program Design: A Toolkit To Develop, Strengthen And Expand Adolescent Girls Programs, Karen Austrian, Dennitah Ghati

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

"Girl-Centered Program Design: A Toolkit to Develop, Strengthen and Expand Adolescent Girls Programs" is a set of tools and guidelines for strengthening programs for adolescent girls in urban Kenya. Based on discussions from a 2010 meeting of the Kenya Adolescent Girls’ Brain Trust, hosted by the Binti Pamoja Center and the Population Council, the toolkit is written for those interested in working with adolescent girls ages 10–24. It can be used by anyone who is designing or running a program, writing a proposal to work with girls, or seeking innovative ideas on how to strengthen program activities. The toolkit has …

Romance And Sex Before Marriage Among Young Women And Men In Andhra Pradesh, International Institute For Population Sciences (Iips), Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This policy brief documents the extent of pre-marital romantic and sexual relations experienced by young men and women in Andhra Pradesh, India and the extent to which pre-marital sexual experiences among young people are informed, safe, and wanted. Findings clearly highlight that many young men and a small minority of young women in Andhra Pradesh had engaged in sex before marriage and that many of them had initiated sexual activities uninformed, had engaged in unsafe relations, and/or had experienced unwanted relations. Findings that relatively few youth had been exposed to family life or sex education emphasize the need for increased …

Assessing Abortion-Related Experiences And Needs In Four Districts Of Maharashtra And Rajasthan, 2006, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, A.J. Francis Zavier, Shveta Kalyanwala

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Recognizing the urgent need to enable rural women to acquire accessible and high-quality abortion services in India, a consortium of organizations—including the Population Council—has come together with the goal of increasing access to legal, safe, and comprehensive abortion services, including postabortion family planning, in the public health system, especially among the rural poor. One of its key activities was to develop a comprehensive and evidence-based abortion care model suitable for rural women. The aim of this report is to shed light on community-level perspectives about abortion services and probe the experiences of women who had undergone abortion, to better understand …

L'Adolescence Des Filles Au Burkina Faso: Une Clé De Voûte Pour Le Changement Social, Martha Brady, Lydia Saloucou, Erica Chong

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Although a number of innovative programs have been created to meet their needs, Burkinabé adolescent girls continue to face many threats to their well-being. They still need considerable support and opportunities to improve their social and economic status and health status. This report, using a number of data sources, including Population Council studies and programs, and the Demographic and Health Survey of Burkina Faso, aims to provide a general overview of these young girls’ adolescence—the realities of life and the policy and program initiatives designed for them. The Population Council hopes that this report will make a significant contribution to …

Poverty, Marriage Timing, And Transitions To Adulthood In Nepal: A Longitudinal Analysis Using The Nepal Living Standards Survey, Ashish Bajracharya, Sajeda Amin

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This working paper examines the influence of household poverty experienced during early childhood on early marriage and outcomes in schooling and workforce participation during adolescence for girls in Nepal. Much of the evidence concerning these relationships is drawn from cross-sectional data that cannot be used, and has not been able, to address causality. This Population Council study uses longitudinal data from the Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS), a two-wave panel in which the waves were conducted eight years apart to address these questions. Analyzing the data by household-wealth quintiles reveals surprisingly nonlinear results indicating that these associations are largest for …

The Nature Of Mothers' Work And Children's Schooling In Nepal: The Influence Of Income And Time Effects, Ashish Bajracharya

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Using nationally representative cross-sectional data from the Nepal Living Standards Survey, this Population Council working paper examines the influence of the nature of mothers’ work on Nepali children’s schooling outcomes. It analyses whether the engagement of mothers (and fathers) in nonagricultural work has significant consequences for their children’s school attendance and grade attainment, compared with these consequences when parents’ work is in traditional subsistence agriculture. Results indicate that children of parents who both work in the nonagriculture sector are significantly more likely to have attended or currently be attending school and have higher grade attainment, compared with children whose parents …

Planning And Implementing An Essential Package Of Sexual And Reproductive Health Services: Guidance For Integrating Family Planning And Sti/Rti With Other Reproductive Health And Primary Health Services, Katherine Williams, Charlotte E. Warren, Ian Askew

Reproductive Health

The second goal of the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA’s) 2008–11 Strategic Plan is “Universal access to reproductive health by 2015 and universal access to comprehensive HIV prevention by 2010 for improved quality of life.” UNFPA identified a number of outcomes that will contribute to achieving this goal. Through an extensive search of the published literature and collation of unpublished literature on programmatic experiences with developing and implementing integrated packages of SRH services, the Population Council gathered a body of evidence from which this guidance for UNFPA staff and national counterparts has been developed. UNFPA identified two priority areas: integrating …