The gender-based violence (GBV) debate has become topical in Zimbabwe and Parliament has been seized with the discussions to the extent that different causes of GBV and violence against girls and women were on Tuesday explored in the National Assembly with a view to coming up with possible solutions.
Veneranda Langa
According to a report introduced in the National Assembly by Mufakose MP Paurina Mpariwa (MDC-T) based on a conference of women parliamentarians on parliaments responding to violence against women and girls in Africa which was crafted in Midrand, South Africa, Africa had a long standing tradition of unequal power relations between men and women leading to an extremely high rate of violence against women beginning in childhood.
Mpariwa told the House that the plight of these women remained unnoticed as in most cases they were treated with less regard compared to men.
“There are development-enablers which should be given priority in dealing with GBV and one of them is gender equality and women’s development with specific focus on eradicating violence against women and children; eradicating harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage; and eliminating gender-based discrimination in political and decision-making processes,” Mpariwa said.
“Other enablers include protecting the human rights of all citizens, including universal and equitable access to quality healthcare with special focus on vulnerable groups including children, the youth, people with disabilities, and people living with HIV and Aids, have also been given prominence in the future that Africa wants for its citizens.”
Mpariwa said statistics reflecting the magnitude of violence against women and girls reflected that this was a pandemic of serious proportions in Africa, taking various forms, often reflecting political, social, cultural, political and economic diversities of our societies, as well as cutting across borders, race, class, ethnicity and religion.
She said some of the factors leading to GBV in Africa had roots in structural inequalities between men and women, girls and boys, women’s subordinate status to men in many societies, coupled with a general acceptance of interpersonal violence as a means of resolving conflict — all of which she said rendered women disproportionately vulnerable to violence from all levels of society.
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Although some MPs did not agree with him, Kwekwe Central MP Masango Matambanadzo (Zanu PF) claimed sanctions had also promoted GBV in Zimbabwe where men lost their jobs when industries closed and their women ditched them as a result because there was little money left in the home.
But, according to different MPs who debated the issue in the National Assembly, causes of GBV were varied and ranged from irresponsible behaviour by governments where people became internally displaced exposing women and girls to vulnerable situations, political violence where women could be kidnapped ransom, poor economic performance, gender stereotypes, and other reasons.
Matambanadzo raised issues that inasmuch as women were the most affected by GBV, they also had a duty to take care of themselves to ensure they did not expose themselves to vulnerable situations and ended up being sexually abused.
“Madam Speaker, the causes of GBV are many and issues such as economic meltdown — the closing down of companies through sanctions has resulted in men losing their wives because they did not have any sources of income. When Ziscosteel was closed down, most men lost their wives because they did not have any sources of income, and we find that even in Bulawayo men who worked at companies that were closed were deserted by their wives,” he said.
Matambanadzo added: “I agree that women and children are the most vulnerable, but the solution is to teach our children to dress properly. We need to educate our children so that we do not continue having these problems.”
One issue that seemed to dominate the discussions on causes of GBV was cultural norms and values as well as gender stereotyping where women were often considered as “items” for men due to cultural practices such as lobola (payment of bride price).
Zanu PF Gokwe MP Dorothy Mhangami said if GBV was to be combated government should act quickly and set up domestic violence councils at Zimbabwe’s different wards to ensure women, girls and other male members of society were informed about the Domestic Violence Act and how it can protect them against abuse.
“I think if each ward has a domestic violence council, the implementation of the fight against GBV is going to be easy. Most women are not aware of this Domestic Violence Act which is there to protect them. If they were made aware of the law through various means, for example radio, newspapers or purposeful education in our community, women would know how exactly they are protected by this Act,” Mhangami said.
The MP said it was also imperative to look at language use and how it could contribute to gender stereotypes where men ended up being viewed as being superior to women.
“Use of words such as ‘fishermen’ create a situation where women are believed not suitable for certain jobs and such words should be changed. The textbooks used at schools also seem to purport that men are better than women, and even pictures that are used in magazines, newspapers and so on, reflect men as purchasers of tractors and cars while women are portrayed as purchasing eggs. In our culture, women are portrayed as if their place is in the home and yet it is not true because men cannot live without women,” Mhangami said.
She said cultural practices such as lobola also distorted the whole picture of how women ended up being viewed by society.
“The issue of lobola in our culture seems to state that men purchase women. It is not so. Those tokens may not have meaning in terms of purchasing of women, but are just a token which families use for appreciation of the bride. It is an exchange between men and men and one finds that during those exchanges women will not be present. Some of the things being portrayed by our culture are actually a disadvantage on our women,” she said.
Kuwadzana MP Lucia Matibenga (MDC-T) said Parliament had a critical role in addressing issues of GBV.
“We need to work in our three roles to address these inequalities; that is, our representative, legislative and oversight roles to make sure that if there are programmes for trying to alleviate violence against women, adequate budgetary allocations are deployed,” Matibenga said.
During the 2014 National Budget women were only allocated 1% of the ttal budget allocations making it almost impossible to solve issues affecting them in the economy as well as dealing with GBV.
“As a country we have a plan of action on gender-based violence which is supposed to come to an end in 2015, but regrettably, this plan of action has not even begun to be implemented and lack of a budget is cited as one of the biggest problems hindering implementation,” Matibenga said.
Another important dimension that was raised by MDC-T legislator for Bulawayo East Thabita Khumalo was the issue of rape of young girls by HIV-positive men who claimed traditional healers would have prescribed that as a cure for HIV and Aids.
Khumalo also raised the issue of sexual exploitation at workplaces where some women were offered jobs by unscrupulous men who demanded sex in return for jobs.
“We have a challenge when we talk about economically empowering the woman — but how can this woman be economically empowered when she goes to a job interview and the first thing that she is told is to pay in kind? The moment you are paying in kind you are no longer economically empowered. You are being disempowered because someone is taking away your dignity even if you have the qualifications,” she said.
“We also have the problem with the issue of HIV and Aids and how it can be cured. There is always a belief that if men sleep with young virgin girls they will be cured of Aids. Can I put it on record that sleeping with young children does not cure Aids — and it never will. Everybody who is infected must go to the regime of anti-retroviral treatment (ART). I am sure as a country everybody is aware where to go and collect the drugs. Please do not spread the virus to those that are not your peers.”
Statistics provided by Khumalo who also sits on the Sadc Parliamentary Forum on HIV and Aids said only 34% of youngsters with HIV and Aids infection are on ART while 64% of infected adults have access to treatment.
Male MPs like Southerton MP Gift Chimanikire (MDC-T) said the solution to ending sexual abuse of women and girls was for the Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs ministry to bring a Bill before Parliament to upgrade rape sentences so that they became more deterrent.
“We need to upgrade sentences on domestic violence that lead to homicide and to cater for rape that is occurring within churches. Some of the sentences being passed do not actually meet the gravity of crimes being committed,” Chimanikire said.
Legislators that have pending rape cases include Binga North MP Dubeko Sibanda (MDC-T) and Bikita West MP Munyaradzi Kereke (Independent). Youthful Mhondoro Ngezi legislator Mike Gava (Zanu-PF) is facing charges of abducting a woman.
