Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Reproductive Health
Published in: Reproductive Health 1/2021

Open Access 01-12-2021 | Rape | Research

“It is painful and unpleasant”: experiences of sexual violence among married adolescent girls in Shinyanga, Tanzania

Authors: Christine Mwanukuzi, Tumaini Nyamhanga

Published in: Reproductive Health | Issue 1/2021

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

While the situation of married adolescent girls in Tanzania is increasingly documented, empirical evidence concerning the ways in which child marriage impacts girls’ and young women’s sexual lives is limited. Specifically, little is known about lived experiences on sexual violence among married adolescent girls in Tanzania.

Methods

This article reports on a qualitative study using a phenomenological approach to describe married girls’ experiences of sexual violence in the Shinyanga Region, an area with the highest prevalence (59%) of child marriage in Tanzania. Data were collected from 20 married girls aged 12–17 years.

Results

The study identified four analytical themes regarding the experience of sexual violence, namely: forced sex; rape; struggling against unpleasant and painful sex; and inculcation of the culture of tolerance of sexual violence.

Conclusion

The study highlights the voices of married adolescents on an important but a neglected topic of relevance to Tanzania’s public health. Findings from this study suggest that married adolescent girls suffer sexual coercion in silence.

Plain English summary

Child marriage is a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa in general and in Tanzania in particular. However, there is limited research on the ways in which it impacts sexual lives of married adolescent girls. In response to the inadequacy of information, married adolescent girls in Shinyanga Region of Tanzania were requested to voice out their experiences of sexual violence. Three themes were identified from the responses, namely: forced sex; rape, struggling against unpleasant and painful sex; and the inculcation of the culture of tolerance of sexual violence.
In conclusion, this study has echoed voices of married adolescent girls on the sexual troubles they experience. Their main concern is that they suffer sexual coercion in silence, which increases their risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections and/or unwanted pregnancies. Recommendations for sexual violence prevention strategies are discussed.
Literature
1.
2.
Ayiga N, Rampage V. Determinants of age at first marriage in sub Saharan Africa: a comparative study in Uganda and South Africa. J Soc Dev Afr. 2013;126(1):9–34.
3.
Birech J. Child marriage: a cultural health phenomenon. Int J Human. 2013;3(17):97–103.
4.
The Government of the Republic of Zambia. Qualitative study of child marriage in six districts of Zambia. file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Qualitative%20study%20on%20Child%20Marriage%20in%20 Zambia%20(1).pdf (2015). Accessed 24 Nov 2018.
5.
6.
7.
World Health Organization (WHO). Every woman, every child, every adolescent: achievements and prospects: The final report of the independent expert review group on information and accountability for women’s and children’s health. 2015. file:///C:/Users/Hp/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/9789241509282_eng%20(1).pdf. Accessed 10 Apr 2020.
8.
9.
Nove A, Matthews Z, Neal S, Camacho AV. Maternal mortality in adolescents compared with women of other ages: evidence from 144 countries. Lancet Glob Health. 2014;2:e155-164.CrossRef
10.
Conde-Agudelo A, Belizán JM, Lammers C. Maternal-perinatal morbidity and mortality associated with adolescent pregnancy in Latin America: cross-sectional study. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2005;192(2):342–9.CrossRef
11.
Belhorma S. Two months of marriage were sufficient to turn my life upside down’: early marriage as a form of gender-based violence. Gender Dev. 2016;24(2):219–30.CrossRef
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Durevall D, Lindskog A. Intimate partner violence and HIV in ten sub-Saharan African countries: what do the Demographic and Health Surveys tell us? Lancet Glob Health. 2015;3:e34–43.CrossRef
17.
Vergaede S. Intimate partner violence in Malawi: Master’s Dissertation, Universiteit Gent, 2016.
18.
World Health Organization (WHO). Multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women: initial results on prevalence, health outcomes, and women’s responses. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2005.
19.
McCloskey LA, Williams C, Larsen U. Gender inequality and intimate partner violence among women in Moshi. Tanzania In Fam Plan Perspect. 2005;31:124–30.CrossRef
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
Falb KL, Annan J, Kpebo D, Cole H, Willie T, Xuan Z, Raj A, Gupta J. Differential impacts of an intimate partner violence prevention program based on child marriage status in rural Côte d’Ivoire. J Adolesc Health. 2015;57(5):553–8.CrossRef
27.
Peterman A, Bleck J, Palemo T. Age and intimate partner violence: An analysis of global trends among women experiencing victimization in 30 developing countries. J Adolesc Health. 2015;57(6):624–30.CrossRef
28.
29.
30.
Raj A. When the mother is a child: the impact of child marriage on the health and human rights of girls. Arch Dis Child. 2010;95(11):931–5.CrossRef
31.
32.
MwanukuziChild marriage: Lived experiences of sexual and reproductive health in Kahama, Shinyanga, Tanzania. Unpublished MPH Diss., Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. 2015.
33.
Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDGEC). Child marriage in Tanzania at glance. Dar es Salaam: MoHCDGEC, 2017.
34.
Guest G, Bunce A, Johnson L. How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods. 2006;18:59–82.CrossRef
35.
Dahlgren L, Emmelin M, Winkvist A. Qualitative methodology in international public health. Umea: Umea University; 2004.
36.
37.
Attride-Stirling J. Thematic networks: an analytical tool for qualitative research. Qual Res J. 2001;1(385405):29.
38.
39.
40.
McCloskey LA, Williams C, Larse U. Gender inequality and intimate partner violence among women in Moshi. Tanzania Int Fam Plan Perspect. 2005;31:124–30.CrossRef
41.
Cáceres C. Assessing young people’s non-consensual sexual experiences: lessons from Peru. In: Jejeebhoy S, Shah I, Thapa S, editors. Sex without consent: Young people in developing countries. London and New York: Zed Books; 2005. p. 127–38.
42.
Connell RW. Gender and power: society, the person, and sexual politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press; 1987.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
Wingood GM, DiClementi RJ. Application of the theory of gender and power to examine HIV-related exposures, risk factors, and effective interventions for women. Health Educ Behav. 2000;27(5):539–65.CrossRef
49.
Metadata
Title
“It is painful and unpleasant”: experiences of sexual violence among married adolescent girls in Shinyanga, Tanzania
Authors
Christine Mwanukuzi
Tumaini Nyamhanga
Publication date
01-12-2021
Publisher
BioMed Central
Keyword
Rape
Published in
Reproductive Health / Issue 1/2021
Electronic ISSN: 1742-4755
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-020-01058-8

Other articles of this Issue 1/2021

Reproductive Health 1/2021 Go to the issue

Research

Reproductive awareness and recognition of unintended pregnancy: young women, key informants and health care providers perspectives in South Africa

Research

Health care professionals’ attitudes towards youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services in Jordan: a cross-sectional study of physicians, midwives and nurses

Research

Optimizing the design of a contraceptive microarray patch: a discrete choice experiment on women’s preferences in India and Nigeria

Research

Contraceptive use and maternal mortality in Indonesia: a community-level ecological analysis

Research

Continuum of maternity care among rural women in Ethiopia: does place and frequency of antenatal care visit matter?

Research

Awareness of obstetric fistula and associated factors among women in reproductive age group attending public hospitals in southwest Ethiopia, 2021