McCleary-Sills Jennifer, Douglas Zayid, Rwehumbiza Annagrace, Hamisi Aziza, Mabala Richard
International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), Washington, DC, USA.
Reprod Health Matters. 2013 May;21(41):97-105. doi: 10.1016/S0968-8080(13)41682-8.
Adolescent pregnancy places girls at increased risk for poor health and educational outcomes that limit livelihood options, economic independence, and empowerment in adulthood. In Tanzania, adolescent pregnancy remains a significant concern, with over half of all first births occurring before women reach the age of 20. A participatory research and action project (Vitu Newala) conducted formative research in a rural district on the dynamics of sexual risk and agency among 82 girls aged 12-17. Four major risk factors undermined girls' ability to protect their own health and well-being: poverty that pushed them into having sex to meet basic needs, sexual expectations on the part of older men and boys their age, rape and coercive sex (including sexual abuse from an early age), and unintended pregnancy. Transactional sex with older men was one of the few available sources of income that allowed adolescent girls to meet their basic needs, making this a common choice for many girls, even though it increased the risk of unintended (early) pregnancy. Yet parents and adult community members blamed the girls alone for putting themselves at risk. These findings were used to inform a pilot project aimed to engage and empower adolescent girls and boys as agents of change to influence powerful gender norms that perpetuate girls' risk.
青少年怀孕使女孩面临健康状况不佳和教育成果欠佳的风险增加，这些风险会限制她们成年后的生计选择、经济独立和自主能力。在坦桑尼亚，青少年怀孕仍然是一个重大问题，超过一半的首次生育发生在女性20岁之前。一个参与式研究与行动项目（Vitu Newala）在一个农村地区对82名12至17岁女孩的性风险动态和能动性进行了形成性研究。四个主要风险因素削弱了女孩保护自身健康和福祉的能力：贫困迫使她们为满足基本需求而发生性行为、年长男性和同龄男孩的性期望、强奸和强迫性行为（包括从小遭受的性虐待）以及意外怀孕。与年长男性进行交易性性行为是青少年女孩满足基本需求的少数可行收入来源之一，这使得这成为许多女孩的常见选择，尽管这增加了意外（过早）怀孕的风险。然而，父母和成年社区成员却将女孩面临风险的责任完全归咎于她们自己。这些研究结果被用于为一个试点项目提供信息，该项目旨在让青少年女孩和男孩作为变革推动者参与进来并增强他们的权能，以影响那些使女孩持续面临风险的强大性别规范。
