Documenting Rape: Comparing Sources in Africa

Comparable statistics on rape and sexual violence against women across Africa are limited, if
available. Sexual violence is an ecological issue that impacts on and is affected by a dynamic
interaction of socio-cultural, personal and contextual factors. Rape and sexual violence are global
realities with daily local implications for many Africans. Sexual abuse has considerable social
cost and mental health effects and has been identified as an indicator for suicide. The
intergenerational public health and development ramifications of rape must also be considered in
line with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Research focusing on young girls in Africa, and elsewhere,
indicate that a considerable percentage of first sexual encounters are forced. Ethnicity and
cultural identity, as well as social and gender norms within communities have implications on a
victim's willingness to report rape, how the attack is recorded by health care workers and
security personnel, the support victims receive following exposure to sexual violence and their
ability to take legal action against the perpetrator.
Prevention and reduction of sexual violence has been identified as a strategic priority in
achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Research and evaluation of the effectiveness of
preventive and resilience-based interventions are few. In addition to the dearth of statistically
valid estimates of the magnitude of rape, the means to account for the diverse social, health,
economic and development costs resulting from its occurrence have yet to be adequately
developed. Such limitations continue to frustrate prevention and resource mobilization for those
organizations and agencies across the continent seeking to target the underlying vulnerabilities,
which heighten an individual's risk of sexual violence or rape.
Efforts to increase public awareness and pressure on policy makers to develop valid and reliable
measures of sexual violence have come from various sectors. African civil society, the
HIV/AIDS community, non-governmental organizations, as well as womens advocacy, human
rights lobbying groups and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community have
been at the forefront of this campaign. At the multilateral level the Task Force on the Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) 3 on Gender Equality and Womens Empowerment has pushed the
agenda for wider data collection and further development of indicators to accurately measure
sexual and gender-based violence.
The nature and scale of rape varies widely by location. Internationally, it is estimated that nearly
of all individual rapes are committed by individuals known to the victim. Sex workers are
often targeted for rape and receive no redress or follow-up care given their occupation. Gang
rape and varying forms of politicized sexual violence that are motivated by xenophobic attitudes
toward minority and immigrant communities are major challenges in South Africa; a country
where 1 in every 3 women report having been raped in their lifetime. Corrective rape, a term
initially coined by South African human rights non-governmental organizations to define rape
committed against lesbian women, often in the presence of their family and partner, is employed
to correct women of a perceived sexual affliction.
The use of rape as a weapon of war has been well documented in conflicts in Uganda, Sudan,
Angola, Sierra Leone, and The Democratic Republic of Congo among others. Militarized rape of

this nature is employed as a weapon against civilians to incite fear and terror while also as a tool
against combatant forces demoralizing them for not being able to protect their women. In the
Rwanda genocide and Mozambique civil war, rape was utilized as a weapon to carry out the
overall campaign of ethnic cleansing. Migration and forced displacement from conflict or natural
disaster in specific create spaces of heightened vulnerability, such as transport corridors and
border posts where the risk of sexual violence is significantly increased. The complexity of
measuring sexual violence among transitory, displaced and migrant populations is an area of
research where even less debate, recognition or reliable statistics are available. Additionally,
trafficking of Africa women and children for commercial sexual exploitation can be understood
as a prolonged form of rape and sexual enslavement on which data are sparse.
ICF International and the National Statistical Offices of individual countries collaboratively
administer the Monitoring and Evaluation to Assess and Use Results (MEASURE) Demographic
and Health Surveys (DHS) begun in 1984 and funded by the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID). The DHS comprise the most comprehensive repository of
datum considered adequately credible by governments and civil institutions for reliable statistics
on rape and other forms of gender-based violence.
Utilizing a modified version of the Conflict Tactic Scales (CTS-II), the DHS measures sexual
violence at the household level. The Domestic Violence module of the DHS includes questions
on forced sexual interactions and rape, asking respondents to report incidents across their
lifetime and to specify the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim, if the assailant is not their
current partner. The findings from these surveys are then extrapolated to a national population
and used to inform civil institutions, advocacy and non-governmental organizations as well as
state actors in generating policy decisions, program interventions and prevention efforts.
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) carried out by the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) since the mid-1990s collects internationally comparable data on indicators in the area
of health, education, child protection and HIV/AIDS. Though the MICS does collect some data
on gender-based violence, there are no questions specific to sexual violence. The United States
Department of State publishes the Trafficking in Persons Report yearly. This is the only
internationally comparable source of statistics on human trafficking. The figures are limited
however, as they are estimates calculated from labor and migration statistics and not actual
surveys of trafficked persons entering into commercial sexual exploitation.
Locally, police and health care facility records serve as another source of information on sexual
violence. African based advocacy coalition groups such as the Solidarity for Womens Rights in
Africa Campaign (SOWAR) are leading efforts to lobby government officials and policy makers
to place greater emphasis on sexual and gender-based violence modules in national census, crime
reports and hospital records. Organizations such as the Population Council, PATH International
and Physicians for Human Rights work to support these efforts through gathering sexual
violence data in their surveys. Police, health care facilities and non-governmental organizations
do not however have a standardized method of collecting data on sexual violence within
countries and a large percentage of records are inaccurate or incomplete.

Conservative estimates indicate that well over 50% of all sexual assault or incidences of rape are
not reported. Underreporting of violence is a consistent and commonly acknowledged threat to
validity. Concepts of family privacy and modesty heavily influence expectations of individual
behavior. Fear of victimization and stigmatization are powerful motivators identified as
inhibiting women from seeking help and disclosing violence. Harmful traditional practices such
as honor killings place the onus of blame on the victim serving as a further disincentive against
reporting; as do cultural taboos that consider intra-familial sexual abuses as private affairs.
The manner of data collection presents ethical considerations and adequately trained enumerators
are critical. The meaning and framing of survey tools are equally as important. Understanding
the cultural context and the varying conceptions of violence as well as the other numerous
coercive acts possible, highlights the importance of qualitative inquiry in accurately documenting
rape. As such, ethical controls for privacy and the necessity of unrestricted and open data access
for African countries and their people, on whom this data is being collected, remains of primary
importance.
The policy environment concerning sexual and gender based violence related legislation is also
of relevant. Domestic policies addressing women and children, gender, security, and human
rights issues are adopted slowly. Ministries chartered with women and children, family and
society issues are massively underfunded in comparison to other directorates. Overwhelmingly
domesticated policies neglect poverty and social inequality related aspects of sexualized
violence. Little less than half of all rape related policies are initiated solely or in collaboration
with Gender and Family or Womens affairs directorates. The resources allocated to quantifying
sexual violence have been historically limited. Budgetary allocations for these directorates
remain minimal in comparison to all other sectors which is a consistent global challenge to
women and gender related directorates around the world.
Hilary Nicole Ervin
See Also
International Violence Against Women Act; Migrant Women; Ruined; Urbanization;
Violence Associated with Political Rhetoric;
Further Reading
Dugan, Julie, Carolyn Fowler, and Paul Bolton. Assessing the Opportunity for Sexual Violence
Against Women and Children in Refugee Camps. The Journal of Humanitarian Assistance.
(August 2000).
Duvvury et al. Costs of Intimate Partner Violence at the Household and Community Levels: An
Operational Framework for Developing Countries. International Center for Research on
Women.
Ellsberg, Mary et al. Researching Domestic Violence Against Women: Methodological and
Ethical Considerations. Studies in Family Planning. (v.32/1, 2001)

Garcia-Moreno, G. Considerations for Indicators on Sexual and Other Forms of Violence

Against Women and Girls. Prepared for the Small Arms Survey. World Health Organization,
Geneva.
Rodrigues, Jo-Ann. The Status of Women: Country Briefs on Achievements and Gaps
Eradicating Sexual and Gender Based Violence in the Great Lakes Region. Gender Equality,
Social and Human Sciences Sector. UNESCO. (December 2010)
Rumbold, Victoria. Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Africa: Literature Review. Population
Council. (February 2008)
Russo, N.F., & Pirlott, A. Gender-Based Violence: Concepts, Methods, and Findings. Annals
New York Academy of Sciences. (v.1087, 2006)
Schraiber et al. Validity of the WHO VAW Study Instrument for Estimating Gender-Based
Violence Against Women. Rev Saude Publica. (v.44/4, 2010).