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Zimbabweans are generally a peace loving people.A� This is something that is acknowledged the world over, and something that was aptly demonstrated in events of the past week in Zimbabwe when the President stepped down after peaceful pressure was applied on him by the populace.
It is well and good to carry such an international tag.A� This is some distinction that we garland ourselves with proudly. But are we really that peaceful beyond the camera lenses? Are we that cultured behind closed doors?
These are questions that confront us and that we must candidly address and honestly answer.A� As we mark 16 days of the campaign against gender-based violence, let us remember that what we exhibit on the streets is nurtured in our different homes and that we need to rectify those challenges of violence that we face as a people.
Violence of any form is thoroughly reprehensible and can never be condoned.A� It is against this background that we urge the nation to choose peace and peaceful means of dispute resolution in homes, not because they fear arrest, but because it is the right thing to do, culturally, religiously and legally.
The scary statistics of women and children being battered yearly should give way to a sweet story of peace, after all Zimbabweans are well known for their peaceful nature.
Gender-based violence is one of those human rights violations that denies women their security, dignity andA� self-esteem.A� Globally, up to 70 percent of women experience physical or sexual violence at some point in their lifetime and up to 25 percent of all pregnant women are affected.
Gender-based violence levels in the country have remained worrying with the 2011 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) indicating that one in four women reported that they had experienced sexual violence; and one in three women aged 15 to 49 had experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
People find it easy to quantify the cost of political violence or violence in the streets, since all they have to do is establish the value of damaged property.
However, this pervasive gender-based violence also negatively impacts on the socio-economic development of the country with a study having shown that the aggregate cost of GBV in Zimbabwe in 2009 was estimated at $2 billion.
Even if we were to assume that this level of violence did not change, the figure would have easily surpassed the $15 billion lost in the Marange Diamonds in the recent past!
Also in the recent past, the countrya��s 16 days of activism ran under the theme; a�?from peace in the home to peace in the communitya�?. We need to restore peace in the home so that it can then show in the rest of the community.
We seek not to dampen our celebration and neither are we saying we should not walk tall for conducting our affairs peacefully in the country but all we are emphasising is that what we show to the outside world should be consistent with our behaviour even behind our walled homes and behind our closed doors.A� Charity, after all, begins at home.
Let us always have this in our minds and not only be jolted into thinking of gender based violence during this annual campaign against violence.
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Online Reporter