The Consequences of Gender Based Violence on CHILD Mothers in Uganda: Impact on Mental Health, Education, and Social Economic Opportunities

Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is violence directed towards other people because of their gender. Gender-based violence is founded on gender inequality, with most victims being women. It is a serious public health and human rights issue, and its manifestations are classified according to emotional, physical, social, psychological, sexual, economic and domestic forms. Sexual and gender-based violence is one of the hard realities that women in Uganda are facing, this is mostly because of a lack of power and authority due to the patriarchy we are born in. Gender-based violence (GBV) has profound and long-lasting effects on child mothers. This abstract therefore explores the consequences of GBV on child mothers, focusing on its impact on mental health, education, and socioeconomic opportunities. In this, we also share Mentoring and Empowerment Program for young Women (MEMPROW’s) learnings through project based research on the consequences of SGBV on girls and young women in Uganda.

Our findings indicate that child mothers experience significant psychological trauma, including depression, anxiety, as a result of sexual violence. These mental health challenges are compounded by the stigma and isolation they face from families and communities, some have dropped out school and forced into early marriages.

Several factors have been alluded to the perpetration of GBV in Pakwach district, West Nile region of Uganda ie negative cultural practices against women, high alcohol consumption, male dominance, poverty, inadequate SRHR information among adolescent girls and young women. In other studies, Van Daalen et al. concluded that GBV was related to food insecurity, economic hardship.

Our recommendation calls for comprehensive interventions that address the mental health needs of child mothers, policies that protect women, promote educational reintegration, SRHR information, service provision and providing economic empowerment programs to break the cycle of violence and poverty to create for a more equitable future for children.