Most women are not even aware of the Domestic Violence Act, which is almost three years old. Who should take a leading role in the fight against gender-based violence – society, families, individuals, organizations or the media?. Very often the media has been blamed for not doing enough.
Edinah Masanga, the Executive Director of the Southern African Women Empowerment Foundation said the media’s role in educating society has been disappointing.
“News items, pictures and adverts are not gender sensitive and they perpetuate gender stereotypes and sway people’s views and opinions on what is feminine and what is masculine,” she said.
“If the media produces content which portrays, for example, that masculinity is proven by being aggressive or femininity is all about being beautiful and being submissive to a man, then we see that society expects women to conform to these stereotypes. If they do, not they can end up being beaten or raped,” said Masanga
She said the media was strategically positioned to inform about and advance gender violence awareness.
“So what we are saying is that there is need to use the media’s position in society as a tool for advocacy against gender violence. But we must first eradicate gender insensitivity in content before we can move forward.
“I also believe it is everyone’s responsibility to spread awareness about gender violence, but the media has a big responsibility in advancing information to the public about the forms of violence and also in educating women on where to get help.”
Masanga said society had let down abused women. “Most of the time what we hear from abused women is that they are shunned and laughed at for being victims, therefore they tend to suffer in silence for fear of being judged by people around them.
“It is horrific that abusers walk around with their heads held high while abused women are shunned, labelled and called names. We need collective effort from important stakeholders such as news media, women’s organizations, human rights organizations, community members and family units in order to stamp out domestic violence.
The Director of Padare/Ekhuhleni/Men’s Forum, Kelvin Hazangwi, said it was high time that every Zimbabwean walked the talk of women’s empowerment.
“Most young boys still take it for granted that they should always assume positions of leadership. This undermines the effort of girls and women, who are continually denied opportunities to realize their full potential,” he said.
He emphasized that men need to listen to what women are saying about male oppression of women and girls in our society and see how best they can change their behaviour towards these people.
Hazangwi said that his organization would continue to work with various organizations in promoting and fighting gender inequalities, adding that women know what they want and should work with men as partners not as enemies.
Post published in: Zimbabwe News