Prevalence of Gender-Based Violence and Its Associated Effects on High School Female Students in Zala District Southern, Ethiopia

Abstract

Gender-based violence (GBV) is violence involving men and women, in which the female is usually the victim; and which is derived from unequal power relationships between men and women. At least one in three women around the world is estimated to have been coerced into sex, physically beaten and/or otherwise abused in her lifetime. The main purpose of this study was aimed at assess gender-based violence and associated effects among high school female students in Zala District, Gofa Zone, Southern, Ethiopia. The study was employed Cross-sectional research design approach. The study selected 351 high school female students using simple random sampling technique. Primary data was obtained using self-administered questionnaires. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 22). The finding of the study has indicated the prevalence of gender based violence has significant relation among age, religion, grade and onset of gender-based violence. In this research paper 351 female respondents were participated from two school of Zala District, among those 188(53.56%) female students were cognizant of gender-based violence. The p-value of those covariates less than at 5% and 95% C.I of those covariates odds ratio do not include 1. Based on the finding the study concludes that the prevalence of gender-based violence was high in the Zala district. The study recommended that every school would have identified and necessary punishment should be commenced, and laws related with gender based violence should be strengthening, and community awareness on the laws should be created through the available Medias of communication.