Discussion
Our study combines AGYW and men’s narratives regarding the impact of COVID-19 school closures on the lives and sexual relationships of schoolgirls. This approach aims to understand the perceived drivers and consequences for girls’ SRH and schooling, incorporating reflections gathered after schools reopened.6 7 13 22 All AGYW participants were in school prior to lockdown, with just 44% remaining as students at the time of data collection. We found similarities in girls’ and men’s narratives, namely higher rates of sexual activity stemming from increased poverty and increased leisure time. However, differences between girls’ and men’s perceptions of past behaviours and motivating factors, and among men’s own individual beliefs were discordant at times. These findings are considered below.
Girls’ and men’s narratives suggest two key areas in girls’ lives that were affected by the COVID-19 closures and likely to have long-term consequences. The first involves how the interruption in schooling affected girls’ education. During these closures, self-study was girls’ only option, although motivation was hampered by repeated delays in reopening and fears schooling would end. In these impoverished settings, fees and associated costs of schooling make repeating a year a non-viable option and leaving school without a certificate can impede future employment. In the Kenya 2022 Demographic and Health Survey,23 women’s past year employment rate was lowest for the 15–19 (13%) and 20–24 (41%) age groups. Notably, the employment rate was strongly correlated with education, at 65% for those with more than secondary education compared with just 45% for those with only secondary education, highlighting the lifelong impact of disrupted schooling. In anticipation of future pandemics, solutions for alternative learning and motivational strategies need to be prioritised in low-and-middle-income country (LMIC) settings to ensure that girls are not disadvantaged economically for life. Alternative strategies that address the hurdles of remote learning in low-resource settings may include government initiatives or public-private partnerships that employ a variety of strategies: developing and hosting high-quality learning across modalities (such as internet, television and radio), providing teacher training for remote learning, improving remote learning infrastructure and technology (eg, supplying internet-connected devices, internet data quotas, in-person visits to areas with poor internet signals and paper take-home packets) and making efforts to rekindle students’ interest and participation in learning.24 25
The second implication from our findings was that despite curfews, restrictions and extended school closures, schoolgirls faced higher SRH risks than prepandemic. This agrees with our quantitative data that showed higher rates of pregnancy, BV and STIs during the COVID-19 period compared with the pre-COVID-19 period.13 26 FGD participants described two causal pathways: (1) the loss of structure in girls’ lives and spare time to pursue sexual relationships and (2) resiliency behaviours in response to an increase in poverty, which drove higher rates of transactional sex. While normative in the study area,27 2,8 participants, both male and female, were of the opinion that transactional sex was markedly higher during the pandemic as pressures to obtain money or items mounted, and ‘exposure’ due to additional leisure time in the community was greater. Our participants’ narratives provide a rational explanation for the increase in pregnancy, abortion and STIs reported in other studies in LMIC during the pandemic.13 26 29 30 The economic instability caused by the pandemic had gendered impacts with girls becoming more of a commodity, and their bodies were used as a service to exchange for money, food and other necessities. This paper further highlights the excessive risks faced by girls during school closures, and illustrate the need for communities and government agencies to implement interventions that mitigate and minimise such risks.
Participants noted heightened power imbalances in transactional relationships. In our study, men—and a few girls—primarily described choosing not to wear condoms because they did not like them. Most girls, however, expressed that they lacked agency to request that their partner wear a condom. Those who do make such requests may then be subjected to male stealthing. Although girls’ lack of agency is not unusual in transactional relationships,27 31 and relationships with older men, the acute need for girls to engage in transactional sex for resources during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with relationship insecurity, may have widened this power imbalance, leaving girls even more vulnerable to sexual and reproductive harms.
Currently, there are programmes to address gender imbalance within Kenya, such as the Ministry of Health Strategic Plan to acheive gender equality and empowerment for girls and women32 which outlines a commitment to making changes and various strategic initiatives to help redress lack of agency. Progress will be measured in part by the indicator: ‘proportion of women aged 15–49 years who make their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive healthcare’. It remains to be seen how successful this is and whether this translates to meaningful empowerment in AGYW agency, particularly in the rural impoverished areas and under future pandemic, or similar situations.
Simultaneously, assessing men’s perceptions of girls’ behaviours during the pandemic enabled us to observe both confirming and conflicting perspectives. Inconsistencies within men’s own views included transactional sex,27 28 33 when men seemed to believe they were aiding girls, with words such as ‘help’, ‘assist’ and ‘care’ punctuating their narratives. They recognised that girls turned to them from necessity, yet also believed girls were obligated to pay them with their bodies. While sexual reciprocity is socially normative in western Kenya,33 narratives implied a conditionality of obligation even during the devastation and uncertainty of the pandemic. Men also portrayed themselves as being intentionally used by schoolgirls and needing condoms to prevent girls transmitting infections, with little consideration of the potential for harm they present to girls. These sexual double standards have been described elsewhere showing how it is largely acceptable for men to openly express or act on sexual desire, and that girls and women are often vilified for openly expressing or acting on sexual desires.34
A few men described themselves as being helpless to resist girls, suggesting that this was just how they were created, that is, men are compelled to act on what is natural to men. They described situations where a girl’s presence was sufficient to lead to a sexual outcome. We did not assess whether these were mutually agreed acts (whether transactional or not), or whether they had some degree of coercion or violation. To date, there is considerable evidence that violence to girls and women, including that of a sexual coercive nature, are a relatively common phenomena in Kenya.35
Few studies exist exploring heterosexual male attitudes and beliefs which drive their sexual behaviours.36 Our data suggest that men felt comfortable in our FGDs to voice their ‘helplessness’ in acting on their sexual urges with AGYW, and with little or no disagreement or questioning from their peers about having these sexual encounters with young girls. This indicates that interventions to successfully reduce harms to AGYW and increase their agency will need to engage men and understand their perspectives to meaningfully and effectively shift such gendered stereotypes and norms.37
This study had some limitations. Participants were asked to recall phenomena from during the COVID-19-related school closures, which ended approximately 15–18 months prior to these FGDs, and thus sentiments may have changed in retrospect. While findings from FGD narratives between the two gender groups were similar suggesting consistency of views, men’s FGD dynamics may have contributed to more extreme masculine perspectives. Within a male environment, participants may have felt compelled to display a more masculine or male hegemonic attitude than had we interviewed them individually. Using a female moderator may have influenced the discussion, either tempering stated views or possibly inciting them. We suggest that future work uses a mix of qualitative methods including individual interviews to evaluate individual versus group responses. A number of quotes referred to ‘older’ men but we did not receive clarification on what constitutes ‘older’. This may have had some connotations for our study findings, for example, power imbalances, and risks of coercion and abuse. Further exploration of the characteristics of men who wish to ‘help’ or support girls—and who demonstrate a greater understanding of their predicament—could help identify effective messaging and groups to collaborate with in the future as advocates for AGYW.
In conclusion, we highlight the potential long-term risks that COVID-19 restrictions, curfews and school closure posed to girls concerning educational outcomes and SRH harms. Recognising that transactional sex became an even greater necessity due to acute circumstances of poverty, we recommend developing mitigation methods now in preparation for future catastrophic events to prevent girls from once again bearing the brunt of this poverty, with lifelong ramifications. While condom programmes, contraceptive services, STI testing and treatment and access to safe, accessible, affordable abortion services have long been advocated, we can only reiterate their importance. We recommend gaining a deeper understanding of men’s attitudes and behaviours towards AGYW, in order to provide a better platform for collaborating with men in reducing power imbalances and coercion in sexual relationships with AGYW.
