COMMENT: Men must reform, protect women’s rights

A culture of impunity when it comes to respect for women’s rights seems to be disturbingly on the rise among certain sections of our communities if crime reports are anything to go by. We believe that women deserve the respect of men and all in our society and that their rights are also human rights that should be non-negotiable.

It would appear there are others who believe that they can ride roughshod over women’s rights and satiate even their wildest fantasies while in the process trampling over the rights of womenfolk. Elsewhere in this edition we carry stories of men that abused women because they somehow felt some sense of entitlement over the women, and even brazenly declared that the women could not do anything to them.

We have the case of a young man from Bulawayo who barged into a room where his mother was making love to her boyfriend, and later on some other day peeped through the bathroom window when his mother was taking a bath. What an abomination! One wonders if such individuals really appreciate the value of a mother in their lives, and if they cannot respect the woman that brought them into the world it would be expecting too much to believe such men can peacefully and respectfully co-exist with women in general. On being reprimanded for his wayward behaviour the young man dared his mother, asking her what she would do to him. He got away with a $200 fine for going against the Biblical commandment with a promise, to honour one’s mother and father so that you live a long and fruitful life.

We have yet another report of two men that robbed and raped a woman and her daughter-in-law at the same time, in the same room, on the outskirts of Bulawayo. Rape is terribly dehumanising on its own without adding the agony of being violated in the presence of your daughter, defenceless, and by young men.

The attitude of the rapists was quite shocking and showed just how they had little regard for women as they told their victims that they were raping them to make up for the shortfall in money and assets that they should have dispossessed them of, but did not have.

We believe society should do better in terms of raising our children into better individuals not driven by such animal instinct.

The final story is of a man whose age could not be established who is on the run in Mberengwa after beating a 60-year-old woman leading to her death, for turning down his love proposal.

The sense of entitlement of some men, and the downright disdain for the emotional integrity of women is quite astonishing. Men need to reform, and protect women, and not abuse and brutalise them.