Investigating the prevalence of gender-based violence; case study: Adjumani town council Adjumani district-Uganda

Abstract

This research was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Adjumani Town Council, Adjumani District – Uganda. The specific objectives of the study were; to establish the causes of Gender Based Violence prevalence in Adjumani Town Council, to find out the effects of Gender Based Violence on women and girls in Adjumani Town Council and to propose the strategies of mitigating Gender Based Violence in communities. The investigation was focused on the cause of GBV prevalence especially level of dominion, oppression and discrimination of women in the property ownership, income access, social development opportunities and its relationship to the status of women in the society with respect to the observed masculine gender supremacy over societal matters and how it harms the welfare and harmonious social development of women and girls in the society. A Qualitative design was adopted to enable access into notion of GBV. Purposive sampling was used to access policy informants and interview was used to obtain policy information from them as being the stakeholders due to their deferring social capacities (heterogeneity in social status) in the society while random sampling was used to select women and girls (observed GBV survivors) and men (observed GBV perpetuators) and focused group discussion was employed to access data from them as being from the same social setting (homogeneous social class). The field data analyzed were obtained from 52 respondents. A content description analysis was used to analyze data for better processing and interpretation from table to charts. The quality of data was enhanced by designing a reliable tool to ensure validity of data, effective use of the planned data collection methods, sample size and ethical considerations stated. The analysis and discussion of field data estimated the GBV prevalence in the sample population to be 62%. The research also revealed that GBV is facilitated by the Gender Power Asymmetries (GPAs) which was evolved from the conflict of interest in traditional communities is a social loss for the feminine gender and has affected the legal system and effective response to GBV suggesting a new paradigm shift in response to GBV.