Abstract

BackgroundA myriad of factors including socio-economic hardships impact refugees, with females being additionally exposed to various forms of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). The aim of this qualitative analysis was to understand and to provide new insight into the experiences of SGBV among Syrian refugee women and girls in Lebanon.MethodsThe data are gained from a larger mixed-methods study, investigating the experiences of Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon, using an iPad and the data collection tool, SenseMaker®. The SenseMaker survey intentionally did not ask direct questions about experiences of SGBV but instead enabled stories about SGBV to become apparent from a wide range of experiences in the daily lives of Syrian girls. For this analysis, all first-person stories by female respondents about experiences of SGBV were included in a thematic analysis as well as a random selection of male respondents who provided stories about the experiences of Syrian girls in Lebanon.ResultsIn total, 70 of the 327 first person stories from female respondents and 42 of the 159 stories shared by male respondents included dialogue on SGBV. While experiences of sexual harassment were mainly reported by women and girls, male respondents were much more likely to talk explicitly about sexual exploitation. Due to different forms of SGBV risks in public, unmarried girls were at high risk of child marriage, whereas married girls more often experienced some form of IPV and/or DV. In abusive relationships, some girls and women continued to face violence as they sought divorces and attempted to flee unhealthy situations.ConclusionsThis study contributes to existing literature by examining SGBV risks and experiences for refugees integrated into their host community, and also by incorporating the perceptions of men. Our findings shed light on the importance of recognizing the impact of SGBV on the family as a whole, in addition to each of the individual members and supports considering the cycle of SGBV not only across the woman’s lifespan but also across generations. Gendered differences in how SGBV was discussed may have implications for the design of future research focused on SGBV.

Highlights

  • A myriad of factors including socio-economic hardships impact refugees, with females being exposed to various forms of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)

  • Qualitative data analysis Two main themes around SGBV among Syrian refugee women and girls in Lebanon were highlighted in this analysis: 1. Continuum of SGBV risks in the public and private spheres; 2

  • The continuum described in our analysis refers to life stages from unmarried adolescent girls living in the family home, to child brides living with her husband and/or parents-inlaw, and in some cases to being divorced or separated after a marriage ends

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Summary

Introduction

A myriad of factors including socio-economic hardships impact refugees, with females being exposed to various forms of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) The aim of this qualitative analysis was to understand and to provide new insight into the experiences of SGBV among Syrian refugee women and girls in Lebanon. Having itself experienced war and years of political instability, Lebanon’s precarious infrastructure and resources are significantly strained by hosting more than one million Syrian refugees. This in turn has resulted in tensions within the host communities, which at times has been manifested as violence and discrimination towards Syrian refugees [11]. The Lebanese Government agreed in 2016 to ease work restrictions for Syrian refugees, discussions are still ongoing around implementation of these procedural changes [12,13,14]

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