REAL CHANGE DIALOGUE NEEDED

Sir,

When it comes to culture, there are some aspects of our lives that deserve saving for future generations. The beautiful parts of culture that keep us together as a nation, and give us a sense of belonging, those parts that make us proud to be emaSwati. And there are those parts of culture that need to be reassessed. It is important to know how relevant certain aspects are for our society today.

Too often, when one introduces issues of women empowerment in any gathering, the most common response is; ‘Equality has never been part of our culture. In siSwati, indvodza ingetulu kwemfati kuko konkhe (men are above women) because it’s always been like that’. 

Propaganda

This sad propaganda has always kept me wondering, do cultural beliefs only come into play when one has to benefit the most, and do we only use culture to keep one gender inferior to the other? Quite frankly, there is nowhere else where culture is used as means of forging a way forward for the benefit of all members of society. 

Whenever there is a discussion about women empowerment, culture is always introduced and used as a barrier. It gets me thinking about how the connection between women empowerment and culture has often been understood – or misunderstood – and how this has shaped people’s understanding of their realities.

Cultural

One thing is clear here, that women empowerment is regarded as some accessory to one’s life, which somehow has to be ‘fitted’ and ‘married’ to one’s cultural context. And it also gets me thinking about how culture has often been viewed as some kind of container into which behaviours, practices and actions have to ‘fit’. But what if the culture just doesn’t fit anymore? 

It is about time people stopped pleading culture whenever they want to dismiss arguments and behaviours that challenge the status quo. Many men invoke culture to justify unhealthy masculinities which take away the freedoms of women and girls. One of the most visible, and sometimes also most invisible, sites on which culture has impacted on women’s rights and freedoms is their bodily integrity. There is a lot of politics that plays out in relation to women’s bodies in the name of culture.

One of the beautiful parts of our culture is that of marriage which has, since time immemorial, suffered blows and dents in the name of culture. Marriage for most women in Eswatini equates to signing away control of their bodies. A telling illustration is the skewed way in which women have been infected and affected by HIV and AIDS compared to their male counterparts. It is also important to focus on how patriarchy employs religion as a tool – often in partnership with culture – to oppress and suppress women.

Supporters of women empowerment programmes are not talking to each other enough across generations, and this has to change if harmful cultural and other practices are ever going to be replaced by real respect for women’s rightful citizenship and freedoms. There is really an urgent need for greater intergenerational dialogue to foster real change.

Nomsa

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