CHANGE BEHAVIOUR

 Sir,

We are an angry lot which is supported by acts of violence each and every day. These acts of violence are meted on the powerless and vulnerable. Most of these are women and children.

The fact that society is mostly patriarchal compounds the issue because women will always bear the brunt of angry frustrated men who are unemployed and have no clue of how to provide for their families.

Gender-based violence is at alarming levels in our country. Some men see women as entities that need to be beaten up, emotionally abused, sexually abused and financially abused. The media reports these cases every day and it is shocking to say the least.

I think we should go back to the basics on how these men and women were raised. Gender norms need to be looked at as feeding this savage nature of these abusers and need to be changed. We have to change the abnormal behaviour, which, through practice, has been normalised. For instance some studies show that there are some people in this country who believe that a man is justified in beating his wife or partner if she exudes certain behaviour.

Abnormal

This is abnormal; no human being deserves to be beaten no matter what they may have done. Why can’t our community leaders, religious leaders, political leaders stand up and say ‘any man who beats a woman in my chiefdom, church etc will be fined heavily’on top of being incarcerated by the State and warned never to repeat the offence?

How many women need to die from their partners before someone speaks for them? There is no single country in the world that reached First World status by leaving its women behind and watching them get killed by their partners every day. Women should be considered as capable deserving citizens of this country who should be protected.

Concerned makoti

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