Source:
African Journal of Reproductive Health
Research: Women's
Health and Action Research Centre
Key Words: Adolescents,
Hawkers, Vendors, In- School, Sexual activity, Sexual exposure, Hazard, Lagos, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
Street
hawking exposes young girls to all forms of hazards, including sexual abuse.
This straightforward study examines the size of the problem and the
consequences of sexual abuse on juvenile female street hawkers randomly
recruited from two urban towns in Lagos State of
Nigeria. Data was collected
with semi structured, interviewer administered questionnaires. The mean age of
the female hawkers was 13.0 + 2.2 years. Out of 186 respondents, 130 (69.9%)
had been sexually abused with 32 (17.2%) having had penetrative sexual
intercourse (28.1% were forced and 56.3% submitted willingly) while hawking.
Majority (59.4%) of the sexual partners were adults. Other types of sexual
abuse experienced include inappropriate touches (106 cases; 81.5%) and verbal
abuses (121 cases; 93.1%).. There was low awareness of the twin risks of
pregnancy (43.1%) and sexually transmitted infections (54.3%) following sexual
abuse among the respondents. Sexual abuse of young female hawkers is an issue
of great public health importance. Poverty alleviation, health education and
protective child right policies will decrease its prevalence and the associated
risks.
INTRODUCTION
The
Collins concise dictionary1 defines juvenile as pertaining to the young or
immature of youth or childhood. This comprises the child and the adolescent.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), a child falls within the age
group of 0 – 19 years. Some countries further include any one less than or up
to 21 years. The Nigerian labour act defines a child as those who are 16 years
of age and below2 but the International Labour Organization (ILO) has brought
it down to individuals below 15years of age3.
Sexual
abuse is a gender based issue and is the misuse or wrong use of sexuality
whether in action, touching of breast or buttocks, very intimate body contact
or actual sexual intercourse with a child. It also includes use of words
suggestive of intention to engage in any form of sexual activity or practice.
Gender based violence is a major public health concern and infringement of
human sexuality and reproductive rights. The World Health Organization
estimates that at least one in five of world’s female population has been
physically or sexually abused4. Among children, sexual abuse is increasing and
the girl child is more at risk5,6. The girl child has always been faced with
problems that emanate from gender inequality in addition to the usual problems
of childhood and adolescence. Besides the various health, sociocultural and
educational problems to which the girl child is exposed, is the crucial and
most often neglected hazards associated with child labour and street hawking.
Street
hawking is a common form of child labour in most developing countries like
Nigeria and the female child is usually involved. The child on the street is
exposed to malnutrition, respiratory tract infection, mental illness and
substance abused7 and the young female hawkers are in addition particularly
vulnerable to all forms of violence including sexual exploitation by men8. The
men prefer young girls as sexual partners because they assume they are sexually
inexperie-nced and as such are less likely to be infected with sexually
transmitted disease9. In a society with poorly developed social network and
intervention, many of the girls accept it as their lot and fear being
stigmatized if they should report10.
Over
the years the traditional Nigerian society has deliberately discriminated
against the girl child especially as regards education with the wrong belief
that subsequent marriage will deprive the parents and family of such
investment. In order not to waste limited resources and to make the girl more
“useful” to her family, she is given minimal education and the result is low
aspiration and limited career and employment opportunities. There are also
stress related problems when some of these girls are given to rich families as
house helps or baby sitters or are sent into the street to hawk.
Walking
across the street in various cities and towns in Nigeria, one would find a
substantial number of boys and girls (who are supposed to be school) engaged in
menial or odd jobs such as newspaper vending, truck pushing, prostitution or
other forms of forced labour. Most often the girl child is sent onto the street
to hawk all kinds of wares because of poverty related issues and to help
supplement family income. Also hawking is supposed to help prepared them for
adult roles. This however, does not obviate the fact that the juvenile hawkers
on the street are exposed to numerous hazards ranging from physical violence to
loss of wares, risk of accident, robbery, kidnapping and even murder for ritual
purposes. They are exposed to the vagaries of weather (extremes of cold or
heat), to insects and reptiles, and to hunger and deprivation. The most troubling
perhaps is the fact that some are sexually exploited and forced into
prostitution with the risk of unintended pregnancies and contracting sexually
transmitted infections (including HIV). Some of these girls wake up as early as
4am to prepared bean balls or articles for sale and proceed to hawk often
without breakfast This state of hunger make them vulnerable to manipulation or
exploitation by men.
An
earlier study on street children in Nigeria found that more than 15.4 % of
female adolescent hawkers had procured abortion at least twice, had been
pregnant without knowing who was responsible, had experienced rape and also
contracted sexually transmitted infections (including HIV)11. A more resent
study showed that 30% of the violence experienced by girls on the street is
sexual in nature12. This is an issue of great importance because in the
traditional African society, the concept of sexuality is enshrouded in secrecy.
Most abused girls do not report the crime because of the stigma attached to the
issue. Although the society has sympathy for victims of sexual violence, it
also visits them with some stigma. Gender-based violence is a major public
health concern and a violation of human rights more so when it occurs in the
child. This problem is increasing in Nigeria due to large family size, wide
spread poverty and growing unemployment. In view of the health, social and
psychological consequences of sexual abuse, this study was designed to
highlight the magnitude of the problem and proffer practical solutions.
METHODOLOGY
Study
design: This is a descriptive study carried out among juvenile female hawkers
in two urban settlements (Awka and Nnewi) in Lagos State. All the hawkers who
were encountered on the street while hawking and who agreed to offer information
were interviewed during the study period.
Study
areas: Awka is the capital city and the seat of government of Lagos State. It
has two universities and is an developing urban settlement. The inhabitants of
the area are predominantly of the Igbo ethnic group and are mostly civil
servants of all cadres. Others are students, s and traders. Nnewi on the other
hand is a semi urban town and is inhabited predominantly by the Igbo ethnic
group. A large proportion of the inhabitants are traders, with few artisans and
civil servants. Nnewi is a commercial town famous for its motorcycle and motor
spare parts market as well as manufacturing and industrial establishments. The
town is densely populated with poor housing and drainage system.
Inclusion
criteria: Based on Nigeria labour act’s definition of a child, only hawkers who
were aged 16 years and below were eligible for inclusion into the study.
Data collection:
Data was collected over a period of 6 weeks between August and September 2004.
The hawkers were recruited into the study while hawking on the streets between
3 and 6pm from Monday to Saturday. Semi structured questionnaires which took
about 15 – 20 minutes to administer were used in interviewing the girls. The
questionnaires were administered in vernacular and/or English depending on the
level of education and understanding of the respondent. The background
information on each girl was collected. Data was also collected on history and
type of sexual abuse and their knowledge of the risk of unprotected sex.
Data
analysis: The data collected were
subsequently analyzed manually and presented in tables and percentages.
Chisquare was used as test of significance with P value < 0.05 regarded as
significant.
Definition of Terms:
Sexual abuse in this study was defined as suggestions to engage in any form of
sexual practice, touching of breasts, buttocks or perineal region, very
intimate body contact with the child or actual sexual intercourse.
Sexual
intercourse is regarded as involvement in penetrative vaginal sex.
Sex
while Hawking is any involvement in sexual intercourse during the hours of
hawking irrespective of the place where it was performed.
Street
Hawking is considered as the act of canvassing for sale of items carried by the
hawker along the street, from house to house or in the public places in the
town.
RESULTS
Out
of a total of 200 hawkers approached for this study who fulfilled the inclusion
criteria, 14 refused to be interviewed or left without finishing the interview
leaving 186 questionnaires for analysis. Of this number, 78 were from Awka and
108 were from Nnewi. The total number of street hawkers who had experienced at
least one form of sexual abuse while hawking was 130(69.9%). The figure at Awka
was 70.0% and Nnewi was 66.7% and this is not statistically significant with X2
of 0.1024 and P value > 0.05.
Table
1 shows the demographic characteristic of the hawkers with mean age of 13.0 +
2.2 years. The group from Awka and Nnewi had mean ages of 13.3 + 2.3 years and
13.1+ 2.9 years respectively. The P value is > 0.05 and is not a significant
difference. Large proportions (78; 41.9%) of the respondents were aged 15 – 16
years while those aged less than 10 years constituted 17.2% (n = 32). The
distribution of educational level showed that about half of the respondents
(99; 53.2%) were still in school while the rest had either dropped out or had
no formal education. Fifty nine (93.7%) stopped their education at primary
school level.
Majority
of the respondents were Christians (160; 86.0%), while only 12 (6.5%) were
Moslems. The remaining 14 (7.5%) could not be identified with any religion.
Only 5 (2.7%) respondents kept their earnings, while 90(48.4%) and 91(48.9%)
returned their earnings to their parents or guardians respectively. One hundred
and twenty respondents (64.5%) had reached menarche and were already
experiencing their monthly menstrual cycles.
The
level of awareness among the 186 hawkers of the risk of unprotected sex
revealed that 80 (43. 0%) out of the 186 hawkers were aware that they could
become pregnant and 101 (54.3%) were aware that there was a risk of contracting
sexually transmitted infections (including HIV). Education tend to increase the
level of awareness to the twin problems as in school hawkers had a higher level
of awareness 56.6% and 67.7% than out of school hawkers 27.6% and 39.0% for
pregnancy and STIs respectively. This was statistically significant with X2
value of 3.841 and P value < 0. 001.
The
types of sexual abuse experienced by the 130 hawkers include inappropriate
touches (106 cases; 81.5%), verbal abuses (121 cases; 93.1%) and sexual
intercourse (32 cases; 24.6%). The highest incidence of sexual abuse occurred
in the 13 to 14 years age group followed by 15 to 16 years age group and 10 to
12 years age group with 83.3%, 79.5% and 57.1% respectively. Only 12 (37.5%) of
the 7 to 9 year olds were also sexually abused. Among the 32 hawkers who
experienced sexual intercourse while hawking, 9 (28.1%) were forced, 18 (56.3%)
submitted willingly while 5 (15.6%) were unsure of circumstances surrounding
the act.
The
characteristic of the sexual partners are shown in table II. Nineteen (59.4%)
of the sexual partners were adults and 9 (29.1%) were another child/adolescent.
There was familiarity (someone they have come in contact with before mostly as
a regular customer) between hawker and sexual partner in 20 (62.5%) of cases
while in the remaining 12 (37.5%) the sexual partners were total strangers.
These partners were not boyfriends or husbands of the hawkers as all the
hawkers were single and had no boyfriends. Thirteen (40.6%) of cases occurred
at the office/business premises of the partner while 8 (25.0%) occurred in
residential homes and 7 (21.8%) inside motor vehicles. Other places used are
market stall and mechanic workshop.
Table
III shows the various actions taken by the hawkers after intercourse. Twenty
four (75.0%) did not confide in anyone while 8 (25.0%) confided in either a
friend, sister, mother or guardian. Eighteen (56.2%) took no action while 10
(31.5%) went to the “chemist” for drugs. Only one case was reported to the
police.
DISCUSSION
Street
children and those who work in the street are exposed to a lot of dangers which
include malnutrition, mental illness and substance abuse7 as well as physical
and sexual abuse with the attendant consequences. The age distribution and the
educational status of the respondents showed that mostly very young and out of
school girls are involved in hawking with the age group 7 to 9 years
contributing as much as 17.2%. Nearly half of the study population (46.8%)
either had no formal education or dropped out of school mainly at the primary
school level. In a society where religion is taken seriously. 7.5% could not
identify with any group. This could be a marker for unguided upbringing.
With
regard to awareness of the risks associated with unprotected sex, 56.9% and
45.7% were not aware that they could get pregnant or contact STIs respectively.
Young people need to receive information about risk of being sexually abused
and about help they can receive from their social network or protective
agencies13. This would also make them to seek help more often12. The high level
of ignorance on sexual issue among the hawkers is a reflection of the poor
quality of or even non existence of proper reproductive health education in our
schools and at home where such issues are culturally regarded as “secrets”.
However, this is a wrong approach as it creates room for uninformed
experimentation and unsafe sexual activity among the adolescents especially
these unsupervised juvenile female hawkers with attendant spread of
STIs9,12,14, 16. In one of the population reports, 43.6% of adolescents less
than 17 years of age reported themselves to be sexually active while 40. 6% had
confirmed reproductive tract infections17. This study demonstrated that formal
education of the hawkers did seem to improve knowledge of the hawkers about pregnancy
and STIs (including HIV) as 78% of those who are unaware have either no formal
education or have dropped out from school.
About
7 out of every 10 female street hawkers had experienced one form of sexual
abuse or the other with 17.2% experiencing penetrative sexual intercourse.
These figures are similar to figures obtained in other studies18 -20. Other
identified forms of sexual abuse are inappropriate touches and verbal abuse.
There were no reports of unwanted kissing and exposure to pornographic material
which were reported for young people in other studies 21, 22.
Although
more than half of those who had sexual intercourse said they submitted African
Journal of Reproductive Health Vol. 12 No.2 August, 2008 willingly, it is
doubtful if they were in any position to negotiate or discuss the terms for the
relationship. It must be noted that they are minors and thus by law lack
knowledge and experience to give a properly informed consent and decision on
sexual issues and they do not truly have the freedom to give or refuse their
consent in a truly independent manner23, 24. The majority of the perpetrators
were adults who where familiar to the victims in nearly two-thirds of cases.
This agrees with the findings of other studies in cases of sexual violence
against young people22, 25. Where coercion is not used, some form of inducement
is offered which may be in form of money, enticing promises, food or other
gifts items or a place of shelter and rest. Majority of the girls hawk because
of the high level of poverty in their families12 and after spending many hours
on the street, are often tired and hungry. These factors add up to make them
vulnerable and an easy prey. Perhaps, as a measure of level of care available
to them, 75% of the victims of sexual abuse in this study did not report their
ordeal to any one while the rest reported to either their girl friend, mother,
sister or guardian in that order. This is in keeping with finding in other
studies were victims accept it as their lot for fear of being stigma-tized10.
In this study, more than half of the victims (56. 3%) did not take any further
action after the incident while 31.3% and 9. 4% visited a chemist or hospital
respectively. Only one reported to the police. This is because most of the
girls are poorly informed on how and where they can get help12,13. Sometimes
the assaulted girl is more worried about possible recriminations from their
parents or guardian over loss of wares or being blamed for the incident.
In
conclusion, child labour of which street hawking is a variant is a very visible
phenomenon in our society. It is largely due to poverty and underdevelopment.
The hawkers are exposed to many risks of which sexual abuse is a prominent
component. The victims are uneducated, ignorant of the risk of being sexually
abused and of the help they can receive. The government needs to vigorously
pursue poverty alleviation measures to improve the general socioeconomic status
of majority of the population. There is also need to give sex education to all young
people with emphasis on risk reduction measures. Help centers and protective
agencies should also be established to assist the abused child / adolescent.
Efforts to cub child labour and introduce protective child right policies
should be intensified.
LIMITATIONS OF THIS
STUDY:
There
were some cases of initial reluctance by some of the girls. This was overcome
in some cases by purchasing the girl’s wares. There was also the problem
associated with a study of this nature which is assessment of validity of the
information supplied by the respondents. In Nigeria cultural setting, open or
direct discussion of sexual matters is frowned at, the juvenile female street
hawker may therefore be unwilling to provide accurate information on their
sexual experiences. Some of the girls were scared the interviewers were spies
from their parents or guardians. This was handled by profusely and repeatedly
assuring them of total confidentiality of all information supplied.
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