adminAccording to the findings by Musasa Project from a survey carried out in Bulawayo last year, a majority of women suffer from gender-based violence in silence as they are economically dependent on their spouses.
Figures released by the gender-based advocacy group show that between 60 and 80 percent of women who report their abusive spouses to either police or advocacy groups withdraw the cases.
This, therefore, means that the fight against this evil is still far from over and a lot still needs to be done in educating our society on gender-based violence and economically empowering women so that they do not depend on their husbands.
Zimbabwe has done a lot in terms of awareness, perception, definition and documentation of domestic violence and yet thousands of women and men continue to protect their abusive partners citing, apart from economic dependency, customary considerations, almost five years after the Domestic Violence Act was enacted.
Granted, a lot has been said and done but it seems the message is not getting home.
Given this scenario, we agree with calls by women activists that the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence should instead be changed to 365 days so that the message is hammered home all year round. Maybe that could be the only way abusive husbands would recognise that women’s rights are human rights too.
But not all men or all husbands are abusive.
We know for a fact that there are some men who are at the receiving end but are shy to come out in the open, report to the police or share that information with relatives or close friends. They also would rather suffer in silence.
But there is consensus that women, because of their biological nature, are mostly at the receiving end of abusive spouses who do not have respect for God’s creation. It appears our laws are not doing enough to protect women and we call upon lawmakers to come up with deterrent measures.
However, we believe more women would come forward to report abuse and would not develop cold feet later on and withdraw their cases if they are economically empowered. Economic empowerment is therefore linked with gender-based violence and the lasting solution to this would be to ensure that women are also empowered and can look after themselves and their children even in the absence of their husbands.
We are aware that strides have been made and are being made to empower women but this needs to be speeded up if we are to eradicate this monster called gender-based violence from our society.
Online Reporter