At Paper Crown Rwanda, we have seen firsthand that awareness and education around sexual and reproductive health and rights, sexual and gender-based violence, and girls’ human rights can dramatically improve knowledge and transform harmful attitudes and beliefs among adolescent boys and girls - yielding meaningful results in sexual assault and violence reduction. Knowledge is power, so we are always here for awareness that leads to transformation - and we want to tell you all about it!
Unfortunately, not many people are really aware of the compound effect of harmful gender norms that lasts for generations. But at Paper Crown, we know how empowering it is to replace these harmful norms with new truths for girls, and to reframe boys’ perceptions of masculinity. This work at the grassroots level will help lead to an end in violence against girls and women, and stop boys and men from perpetuating violence.
Adolescent Girls & Boys at My Voice, My Power Training, learning from Clementine Nyirarukundo - Paper Crown Rwanda Director and Gender Trainer.
But this work takes time - we didn’t get here overnight, and we won’t heal these violent social systems overnight, either.
So, while we’re diligently working towards that long-term mindset shift, we also believe that girls have the right to defend themselves from the daily threats they continue to face. That’s why we’ve introduced Girl Empowerment Self Defense (GESD) training, to equip girls with knowledge, skills and techniques to speak out against violence and to effectively defend themselves, if and when they face a risky or uncomfortable situation. We believe GESD will set a new standard for addressing rape culture and reducing sexual assault in Rwanda, just as it has in Malawi and Kenya.
Adolescent girls learning GESD moves.
We are excited to share key learnings from our strategies at Paper Crown Rwanda for #sexualassaultawareness month! Because awareness is the first step towards real transformation.
As the incomparable African women’s rights activist Leymah Gbowee has said, “You can tell people of the need for struggle, but when the powerless start to see that they can really make a difference, nothing can quench that fire.”
We believe the time is long overdue for lighting some fires for change!
We must call out gender norms, to call out sexual assault. What is masked as sexual assault, coercion or violence is rooted in and perpetuated by harmful gender norms that are normalized at all levels of society and left unchallenged.
Did you know that among those adolescent boys in the My Voice, My Power project, half of them believed that when a boy cat calls a girl on the street, this is just flirting?
In case you’re not familiar, ‘cat calling’ is sexual violence in the form of street harassment and is rooted in boys feeling fundamentally entitled to girls’ bodies. At the end of My Voice My Power, all of our boys now believe differently.
Gender norms are passed down from generation to generation; as expectations and beliefs, considered to be "normal" or correct for each gender within that community. In Rwanda, girls are expected to enjoy or be flattered by verbal harassment. Cat calling is just one example of street harassment, which includes stalking, unsolicited sexual comments, touching, honking a car horn, and many other provocative gestures which objectify girls and make the feel unsafe and uncomfortable. This behaviour normalizes and perpetuates violence, because it not only instills constant fear and insecurity in girls, it also enables boys and men to treat girls’ bodies as possessions. This further feeds into the normalization of rape and sexual violence, and promotes control and dominance against women. Most of the girls in MVMP initially believed they should tolerate street harassment as ‘flirting’. These girls now firmly believe that street harassment, and sexual harassment in general, is a form of violence that should actively be rejected and called out. Through changing hearts and minds, we are setting in motion a new trajectory of empowering truths to be handed down from generation to generation. To sustainably end sexual assault, we must call out gender norms that normalize violence against girls and women.
Katie Carlson-Akuno - Paper Crown Rwanda Founder, teaching self-defense mnemonics at MVMP GESD Training Session
How Girl Empowerment Self-Defense within the MVMP model yields transformational results to end sexual assault
Girl Empowerment Self Defence (GESD) is a holistic violence resistance education, designed specifically for adolescent girls to learn behaviours and tactics to enable them claim their right to safety and non-violence when faced with threats, and to proactively report violence if they experience it. While we are, and always will be, emphatic that girls are NEVER responsible for the violence that others enact against them, we can't ignore the fact that social norms take a long time to change, and in the meantime, we firmly believe that it is every girl’s right to access the knowledge, skills and techniques that can help them to identify potential abusers and more effectively navigate situations that feel uncomfortable or risky.
Did you know that in Malawi in 2018, where Girl Empowerment Self Defense was taught to students, self defense knowledge increased and sexual violence victimization reduced significantly?
Adolescent Girls practice GESD moves with Gender Trainer - Clementine.
In Kenya, school drop-out due to teen pregnancy decreased by 46%, and sexual assault decreased from 24.6% to 9.2% after GESD Training. Our aim is to pilot this groundbreaking training in Rwanda to help achieve reductions in rape and sexual assault rates, reductions in teen pregnancy and school dropouts due to teen pregnancy, and increase reporting of violence.
Sexual assault awareness needs to extend beyond the month of April! It is about everyday beliefs and practices that do not put girls and women at risk of violence. It is about believing survivors and ending victim blaming. Moreover, we must strive to make a real change in our culture, one that promotes dignity and respects women’s and girls’ rights. So, let’s take these lessons and get to work.