Women must change mind-set against GBV

By BENNIE MUNDANDO WOMEN have been a disappointment in the fight against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and need mind-set change if Zambia is to reduce the glaring prevalence which has pitted the country 10th out of 177 countries in the world and fourth in Africa, the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) has observed.

Eastern Province YWCA coordinator Dorothy Ndhlovu said the fight against GBV, which includes child marriages, has yielded little positive results because women, who are at the receiving end, have been silent over the matter by protecting the perpetrators who have continued their barbaric behaviour on women and children.

Ms. Ndhlovu said she was shocked to learn of a case in the province where a man had fathered a child with his own daughter while family members swept the case under the carpet without realising that protecting such criminality had far-reaching consequences which would be difficult to deal with in the long-run.

She said it was disappointing that even those women who reported cases of abuse to police, most of them were quick to withdraw the cases once their spouses were arrested without realising that punishing an offender was another way of making them better people in society and prevent them from continuing as social misfits that they were.

“Out of the 177 countries in the world, Zambia is 10th on the list of countries with the most prevalent cases of GBV which includes child marriages. In Africa, we are at number four. At national level, Eastern Province tops the list and these are not pleasing statistics because GBV cases, especially child marriages, are still very high especially here in Eastern Province.

“As for us women, we are a big disappointment because when these GBV cases occur in our homes, most of us keep quiet. Even those who report such cases to police, they are too quick to withdraw them once their husbands are arrested,” Ms. Ndhlovu said.

She cited a case in the province in which a certain man had fathered a child with his own daughter without the family reporting the matter to relevant authorities as one of the most shocking incidences of concealment of perpetrators.

“Just two days ago, I went to the police station where I found a case where someone has fathered a child with his own daughter and these people are staying together. The child is now two years old and the problem is us women who are shielding these men from these cases. How can a father have a child with his own daughter and you as a woman you are quiet about it?

“Look at the psychological trauma such children will go through when they grow up and realise that the same person they are supposed to call their grandfather happens to be their father? Without mind-set change among us, these men will continue perpetrating the vice. It is up to us to change the state of affairs or this problem will continue,” she said.