AS the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence campaign draws to an end for another year, it is time for some soul searching by every citizen as an individual and at institutional level. Almost every day media platforms across the board cover gender-based violence. Our courts seem to be mired in cases where victims who are predominantly women are seeking relief for physical, emotional and social abuse from their partners.
Why do the statistics of violence seem to continuously spike? Is the explanation that more reports are being made because victims are better informed through awareness campaigns adequate? Is the brief campaign enough for a problem that is so ingrained that even the 16 days stipulated intensive awareness programmes still result in media reports of violence sometimes resulting in fatalities?
Although such a complex social ill is unlikely to have a simple cause and a one-layered solution we would like to suggest that the biggest reason why the repeated campaigns are not working is because they are imported ideas and not home-grown solutions that fit our peculiar cultural norms. The current campaign is running under the theme “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women!” in 2013. Focus areas are: 1) Violence perpetrated by state actors to maintain or attain power; 2) Domestic violence and the role of small arms; 3) Sexual violence during and after conflict.
As Zimbabwe is not in a state of war and the access to arms is generally limited it has left the local activists groping to find a hinge for their campaign which has been rather generalised and with no discernible objective(s) stated in a smart way. Another point of concern is how the campaign seems to be just a lord of noise directed at men. This effectively reduces women to the role of helpless victims who are not able to take their fate into their own hands and stem the tide of abuse. A major factor in domestic violence is the cultural acceptance. Our readers will recall that a few years ago we published the results of a study that showed that a disturbing number of women believed that a man has the right to beat his wife if she gives him just cause.
If this is what mothers believe, what do they teach their sons?
Another factor is that no one seems prepared to talk about gender-based violence as practised by women towards other women. How many times do we read of women being complicit in the physical abuse of their female in-laws and relatives? We appreciate that civil society cannot solely shoulder the blame for the scourge without the Government – through its various arms taking up its fair share. But it looks like the tail has begun to wag the dog as activists inflamed by foreign ideologies lobby for acts and policies that bear little practical results.
We live in a patriarchal society where in most cases men rule and women are expected to toe the line. A look at the political, social and economic leadership of the country unequivocally places men at the top with very few women to challenge the establishment where institutional harassment and abuse are the norm.
Until the Government addresses the need for real equality in all spheres, women will remain second-class citizens and vulnerable to abuse. The church also comes in as a culprit as it promotes that same status quo and church leaders routinely use their spiritual position to abuse women. Just calling for the end of violence against women and girls year in and year out is not enough, as the statistics prove. Campaigns are wonderful for the NGOs receiving funding to carry them out but they seem to deliver little else for the core target group who are the battered women.
We know that whoever pays the piper calls the tune, but we believe that it is time that all those genuinely interested in addressing the problem get back to the basics. The end game is to have no battered man or woman. With this in mind, we would like to recommend that a local initiative that explores the causes of gender-based violence in our society and practical solutions be set up.
Conferences, lunches, media slots and marches are all very well. But until we examine how we can make every citizen safe in their home, church, workplace and any other place they wish to be, the 16 days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign will remain an annual event with little tangible effect.