Men must unite, fight GBV curse

Madam,

2ne of the great challenges in rem edying the issue of the value and place of women in society is that although policies and legislation are being passed by governments to help elevate our women. 6ome men are still struggling with divorcing the old mindsets that view women in an unhealthy way. 2ur real battle is the battle of re educating our boys and men to look at women in a manner that they will be able to honor and value them. Perception defines how we see ourselves and others. 7here must be a reset in how most men perceive women spiritually, emotionally, phys ically, sexually, socially, economically and even politically. *od made both men and women eTual, uniTue and complementary in design. A woman’s value and rights are *od given and inherent in nature.

VALUE

Women’s rights are not necessarily given to them by men, but rather by the *od who created them and put value on them. Women we must know and believe that they are eTual to men in essence. 7raditions and cultures of societies have greatly distorted this over a period of many years. 7his has actually caused negative stereotypes against the value of women in society, which has eventually imprisoned their capacity to manifest who they really are. 7hough men and women are different in design, purpose and func tion, they are eTual in essence. 7he universal negative perceptions and devaluing of our sisters and mothers should be stopped. , believe this can be achieved if both men and women work at dismantling wrong belief systems, cultures and traditions that devalue and belittle women.

As men, we must unite and fight this curse that is becoming common in our communities. 2ur mothers, daughters and sisters are being verbally abused, physically raped, professionally raped and emotionally broken. (very form of violence against women must be strongly and systematically discour aged through instilling the culture of valuing women in our homes and communities. ,t is not a noble thing to beat a woman, for whatever reasons. As men, we must learn how to control our emotions, especially the emotion of anger.

SOCIETY

We must educate our friends and relatives about the value of women in society. We must treat our women with worth and integrity. 0any of us owe our success in life to a mother who gave up her own dreams and pleasure Must to make sure that we had food on the table, and went to school. ,t is, therefore, appropriate to appreciate and value our mothers and all women in general for the value they add to families and communities.

'r 0yles 0onroe once said; ³7he source of our problems in this world, including the misunderstanding and mistreatment of women, is that we have lost our understanding of what it means to be human as *od created us. We have lost our sense of purpose. , am convinced that in every country in the world, both men and women are suffering from this ignorance of purpose. 7he best thing for us to do is to discover and live in the original plan of the one who created humanity. 2nly then will we learn the inherent rights of women and men, so that both females and males can live in freedom and fulfillment.”

C S