Research on Gender-Based Violence and Young People

The Girl Guiding annual survey asks over 2,000 girls and young women aged 7 to 21, about “specific and emerging pressures” they experience in their everyday lives and what that means for their health, happiness and life opportunities. Here are some of the key findings related to gender-based violence (GBV):

• 69% of girls (aged 11-16) describe boys at school making toxic comments about girls and women
• 81% of girls (aged 11-21) have experienced threatening or upsetting behaviour online
• Girls (aged 11-21) most likely to experience sexual harassment include those who identify as LGBTQ+ and Disabled girls
• 55% of 13-16 year olds and 61% of 17-21 year olds worry about being sexually harassed
• 52% of girls (aged 11-21) do not think sexist comments are dealt with seriously at school
• 19% of girls (aged 7-21) say they don’t like the way they are. Girls of colour, Neurodiverse girls, those identifying as LGBTQ+ and Disabled girls are least likely to say they’re happy with how they look).

(Girl Guiding, 2023)

 

The End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW) produced a report which sets out progress towards implementing a Whole School Approach to tackling GBV in schools. Here are some of the key figures mentioned in this report:

• Nearly one-third of girls don’t feel safe from sexual harassment in school
• Nearly three-quarters (72%) of girls surveyed by EVAW state sexist behaviour in school makes them feel uncomfortable
• 62% of girls surveyed were made to feel uncomfortable about their appearance, with 26% reporting it was a teacher who had made inappropriate comments.
• Nearly 60% of girls have heard teachers using sexist language
• 80% of girls say schools need to do more to tackle sexual harassment and support young people’s sex and relationships education

(EVAW 2023)

 

Ofsted was asked by the government to carry out a rapid review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges. They visited 32 schools and colleges in England, conducting focus groups with more than 900 children and young people and surveying just over 800 (aged 13 and above) about their perceptions of sexual violence, including sexual harassment and online sexual abuse. Here are some of the key findings:

• Children and young people said that sexual harassment occurs so frequently that it has become ‘commonplace’, with 92% of girls and 74% of boys reporting sexist name-calling.
• 88% of girls and 49% of boys said being sent sexual pictures or videos of things they did not want to see, happens a lot or sometimes.
• 64% of girls had experienced unwanted touching

(Ofsted, 2021)

 

A key recommendation from the young people involved in the Everyday Heroes consultation for the Equally Safe Delivery Plan was that ‘the Education system should work alongside children and young people to address Gender Inequality and Gender-Based Violence’. They wanted schools to develop approaches with young people to educate and campaign against gender inequality and violence, and had ideas for approaches to education and campaigning. They wanted to work alongside teachers to make approaches effective, and some had already taken action, for example, one group had created primary school books promoting gender equality and another had delivered training to teachers based on findings of their peer survey into sexual harassment.

(Everyday Heroes 2018)

 

Recorded crime figures show young people are overrepresented both as victims and perpetrators of some sexual crimes;

• At least 37% of sexual crimes reported to Police Scotland in 2023-24 related to a victim under the age of 18 (Scottish Government 2024).
• Analysis of ‘Other sexual crimes’ (‘Communicating indecently’ and ‘Cause to view sexual activity or images’) between 2013-4 and 2016-7 demonstrated that crimes of these types which are cyber-enabled and more likely to have younger victims and younger perpetrators (Scottish Government 2018).

Young women from BME backgrounds may experience gender-based violence that also has a racist and/or Islamophobic aspect to it. This could involve a young woman having her hijab pulled off (see for example this report), a young Black woman having sexualised comments made about her body, or a young Asian women having assumptions being made about her sexual character. Additionally, young BME women may be vulnerable to particular forms of violence such as female genital mutilation, forced marriage or so-called ‘honour based violence’. It is therefore essential that any work to address and prevent gender-based violence also seeks to understand how it interacts with racism and Islamophobia.

34% of pupils and 33% of staff reported a racial element to sexual harassment. (Young Women Lead, 2018) Young Women Lead Committee (2018), Report on Sexual Harassment in Schools

Disabled women and girls experience gender-based violence (GBV) at disproportionately high levels and their experiences of violence are often compounded by discrimination related to disability. They may be targeted because they are disabled, and/or the violence may involve disablist language and behaviour. Furthermore, Disabled young people are often excluded from education on sex and relationships, which can increase their vulnerability to it.  Here are some research findings on GBV affecting Disabled women and girls: 

• Globally, it is estimated that 90% of women with learning disabilities have experienced sexual abuse, 68% of whom experienced this under the age of 18 (Scottish Government, 2023).
• 40% of women and 20% of men with a long-standing illness or disability have experienced partner abuse (ONS, 2018)
• International evidence suggests that Disabled women and girls from BME, LGBT or minority faith communities in Scotland, as well as those from deprived areas, may be at even greater risk of sexual abuse, as are women and girls with sensory or learning disabilities. (Engender, 2018).

 

• The extent of violence against Disabled women in Scotland is not known, but one small-scale survey conducted in Glasgow showed that 73% of participating Disabled women had experienced domestic abuse and 43% had been sexually assaulted (Zero Tolerance, 2015).
• Studies from elsewhere in the UK found that Disabled women are up to twice as likely to experience sexual violence and partner abuse as non-disabled women (ONS, 2018).

 

• Disabled girls are also more likely to be harassed online (40% compared to 25% who are not disabled) (EVAW, 2020).
• Girls (aged 11-21) most likely to experience sexual harassment include those who identify as LGBTQ+ and Disabled girls (Girl Guiding, 2023).
• 19% of girls (aged 7-21) say they don’t like the way they are. Girls of colour, Neurodiverse girls, those identifying as LGBTQ+ and Disabled girls are least likely to say they’re happy with how they look) (Girl Guiding, 2023).

LGBT people may experience gender-based violence (GBV) that is linked to their actual or perceived gender identity and/or sexual orientation. It is important to recognise that abuse targeted at young LGBT people can often be perpetrated as a means of reinforcing or trying to make someone conform to society’s gender norms. In this way, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are intrinsically linked to GBV. By encouraging young people to challenge gender stereotypes and supporting them to understand the causes and consequences of GBV, we can help to prevent homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in schools and have a positive impact on LGBT students’ wellbeing and attainment.

Researcher Dr. Nancy Lombard has undertaken substantial research examining how young people’s position within childhood directly impacts on how they conceive of, construct and understand violence.

Young people use gender but also space, childhood, temporality and age to frame their understandings of violence. Her research pushes theoretical boundaries providing an innovative contribution to the understandings of a global issue and has demonstrable impact.

Her findings have led to policy change and investment in gender equality programmes across health, education and the voluntary sector. Her earlier research supported the premise that gender-based violence (GBV) is a consequence of gender inequality. It went further however in demonstrating the need for a Whole School Approach to both violence and gender equality in terms of how education can be used to challenge attitudes towards GBV. It formed the evidence base for Early Years Centre guidance and also underpinned the training for the Gender Friendly Nursery Awards offered by the NHS Scotland and currently being piloted in schools.

Read about how young people in her research understood and made sense of violence in relation to gender and how they justified men’s violence against women here.

Studies also demonstrate the normalisation of coercion in sexual relationships, primarily of young women by young men, and the gendered nature of coercive behaviour (Marston and Lewis, 2014) Marston, C., and Lewis, R. (2014), Anal heterosex among young people and implications for health promotion: a qualitative study in the UK (Coy et al., 2013) Coy, M. (2013), Children, Childhood and Sexualised Popular Culture in J.Wild (Ed)Exploiting Childhood: How Fast Food, Material Obsession and Porn Culture are Creating New Forms of Child Abuse including in practices around the sharing of sexually explicit images. (Ringrose et al. 2013) Ringrose, J., Harvey, L,. Gill, R., Livingstone, S. (2013), Teen girls, sexual double standards and ‘sexting’: Gendered value in digital image exchange In addition, research into sexualisation (Papadopoulos 2010) Papadopoulos, L. (2010), Sexualisation of Young People Review and exposure to pornography (Horvath et al., 2013) Horvath, M.A.H., Alys, L., Massey, K., Pina, A., Scally, M. and Adler, J.R. (2013), Basically ... porn is everywhere: a rapid evidence assessment on the effects that access and exposure to pornography has on children and young people found that exposure to gender stereotypes and sexualised and violent imagery affects young people and contributes to sexist attitudes and beliefs, and to perpetration of gendered violence. Further, an NSPCC report on the impacts of exposure to online pornography noted that ‘attention needs to be paid to the messages that boys take from pornography, and what their expectations are for the girls with whom they subsequently interact’ (Martellozzo et al. 2016) Martellozzo, E., Monaghan, A., Adler, J., Davidson J., Leyva, R., Horvath, M. (2016) “I Wasn’t Sure it was normal to watch it…” A Quantitative and Qualitative Examination of The Impact of Legal Pornography on the Values, Attitudes, Beliefs and Behaviours of Children and Young People..

While women, girls and the trans community experience higher levels of gender-based violence, men and boys can also be affected and should have access to support. Boys may experience sexual violence in childhood, grow up with domestic abuse and/or experience sexual violence from peers such as being made to look at pornography, being pressured to have sexual relationships or having intimate images circulated without their consent – most often perpetrated by other boys or men.

Whilst it is difficult to estimate prevalence, an NSPCC study of young adults aged 18-24 found that 5.1% of men (compared with 17.8% of women) reported experiencing contact sexual abuse before the age of 18 (Radford et al 2011) Radford, L., Corral, S., Bradley, C., Fisher, H., Bassett, C., Howat N., and Collishaw, S. (2011) Child abuse and neglect in the UK today and the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey found than 0.8% of men (compared with 6.2% of women) in Scotland have experienced at least one type of serious sexual assault since the age of 16. (Scottish Government 2019) Scottish Government (2019) Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2017/8: Main Findings

Boys and men are also impacted by harmful gender stereotypes and expectations around masculinity. For example being made to feel under pressure to be both physically and emotionally strong, to be financially successful, as well as to be heterosexual. Challenging gender stereotypes and addressing gender-based violence is therefore beneficial to people of all genders.