Woman of the Week

By ANNIE ZULU ZAMBIA joined the rest of the world in the 16 days of activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) on November 25, an annual campaign that for more than 20 years has aimed at eradicating violence.

The country’s theme for this year is “Leave no one behind, end gender-based violence now.”

Gender-based violence (GBV) can be defined as all acts perpetrated against women, men, girls and boys on the basis of their sex which cause or could cause them physical, sexual, psychological and economic harm.

GBV violates the human rights of an individual, disrupts families and undermines socio-economic development of a county.

Domestic violence is the key gender-based violence problem in Zambia and actions to eradic ate the vice largely address women’s and girl’s vulnerabili ties.

Such a one-sided approach casts a shadow on the plight of the men and boys who are usually silent about their predicament.

While news of violence and crimes against women and girls are reported extensively in the media, there are a growing number of men and boys who are silently facing physical and psychological violence at the hands of their family members and the general public.

Notwithstanding the fact that women and girls are more vulnerable to violence, side-lining male victims will have negative consequences on the efforts towards preventing violence.

Zambia has largely remained a patriarchal society, for a man to admit being harassed by a woman is desperately humiliating and, in a way seen as shameful.

Even worse is the fear of humiliation by a husband who wants to go public and declare being abused by his wife.

Domestic violence against men in Zambia is not well recognised by the law enforcers with the generalised perception that men cannot be victims of violence.

In many instances, male victims of GBV would rather not report such cases to the police and other law enforcement agencies for fear of being ridiculed.

For example, Joseph Phiri, a Lusaka resident who confesses to have on several occasions fallen victim of both verbal and physical violence by his wife, thinks reporting her to the police is a taboo.

Mr Phiri says even if he was to report the matter to the police, they would not take it seriously.

“My wife always suspects me of cheating on her because I have a child with another woman. So insults me and sometimes hits me with any object.

“She once hit me with a glass; I couldn’t even go to the hospital because I felt so embarrassed. Reporting her to the police is even worse because they will even be the first ones to laugh at me,” Mr Phiri said.

Like women, men also find it hard to cope with abusive marriages/relationships and in reality the situation is worse for men because they cannot easily share their experiences.

There is a silent but factual increase in the number of men who are physically or psychologically abused by their spouses.

Those silent men who are beaten, denied sex and food, and locked out of houses could be a time bomb.

Gender Activist Gladys Mutukwa has since encouraged men, who are GBV victims to rise to the occasion and break the silence by sharing their experiences and reporting such cases to law enforcement agencies.

Ms Mutukwa notes that being silent could be regrettable, emphasising on the growing trend of women killing their spouses.

“The number of men being battered by their wives is very alarming; men also need to come out in the open and talk about this issue like what women are doing. Keeping quiet is no solution, it can even be regrettable, because nowadays men are even murdered by their spouses,” she said.

GBV either of men or women is not a panacea to solving domestic disputes, its effects can be devastating and long lasting.

To be a man or woman, who lives in an abusive environment, may lead to disillusionment and self-destruction.

Rather than addressing symptoms through depicting the woman’s face of gender violence, we need to seriously address the causes.

The solution is likely to be found in a harmonised and collective approach that deeply addresses the concerns and issues of both women and men.