40 institutions make it nearly impossible fore women to obtain access to justice and to effective support for violence. Therefore, improved coordination between the health sector and other governemental and non governmental institutions at a community as well as a national level is critical.

_Address the underlying gender norms that support violence in the community._ Throughout this report we have underscored the need to transforms prevailing community norms that support violence and discrimination against women and girls. In particular, in order to effectively promote sexual and reproductive health, it is necessary to create awareness at a community level on the health effects of GBV and how GBV itself is rooted in unequal gender relations.

# **2.4 .  The Education Sector**

## **2.4.1   Overview of GBV and the education sector**

GBV in schools is an important topic both in its own right and because of its potential impacts on girls’ enrollment in schools.<sup>35</sup> A growing body of evidence suggests that sexual harassment is widespread in educational settings in many parts of the world (UNICEF, 2002; Mirsky, 2003; Leach et al, 2003; Wellesley Centers for Research on Women, 2003). Data on harassment and sexual abuse in schools, however, are uneven: while there is compelling evidence that GBV is rife in African schools, little is known about the phenomenon in Latin America.<sup>36</sup> There are very few studies of GBV in schools in Latin America. Leon (1994) provides one notable exception: in a one-school study in Ecuador, she found that 22% of adolescent girls reported being victims of sexual abuse. A more recent study of violence in Brazilian schools found that 8% of students from 5<sup>th</sup> to 8<sup>th</sup> grade had witnessed sexual violence within the school environment (Abramovay and Franco, 2004).<sup>37</sup> Data on sexual violence, however, remain spotty for Latin America and the Caribbean.

> 35  An unsafe environment in school may dissuade parents from enrolling girls in school or may lead to increased rates of school abandonment (WCRW, n/d).  While this has been documented for the African context, it may or may not be important in Latin America and the Caribbean, where girls’ enrollment rates typically exceed boys’ rates.

36 According to recent studies in six African countries , between 16% and 47% of girls in primary and secondary schools report sexual abuse or harassment, with both male fellow students and male teachers responsible for the abuse (Leach et al., 2003). In Botswana, 20% of female students reported having being asked by teachers for sexual relations (Rosetti, 2001, cited in Leach, 2003). In Cameroon, 8% of sexual abuse towards girls was accounted for by teachers (Mbassa Menick, 2001, reported in Leach, 2003). The DHS survey in South Africa, surveying women between 15 and 49 years of age, found that 37.7% of all rape victims identified a teacher or principal as the rapist (Medical Research Council, 2000). At the same time, girls in South Africa are more likely to be sexually assaulted by their male classmates than by teachers or school personnel (Human Rights Watch, 2001).

37 The study covered middle schools in 14 Brazilian state capitals. The percentage of students who had witnessed sexual violence ranged from a low of 5% in Vitoria (Espirito Santo) and Fortaleza (Ceara) to a high of 12% in Cuiaba (Mato Grosso). The way in which the question was formulated does not permit identifying what percentage of girls were victimized by sexual violence.