Prime
Let’s stand our ground against gender violence
Frank Obonyo
What you need to know:
Beyond culture, it takes political, social, and religious will to eliminate gender-based violence from our country
Wearing an attitude of “I know it all,” I entered a two-day gender-based violence training session with plans to listen and write something that might help others. But along the way, I learned a thing or two.
Organised by the Ministry of Public Service, and facilitated by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), last week’s training at the Law Development Centre (LDC) was focused on eliminating gender-based violence.
Under the Spotlight Initiative, UNDP is mandated to ensure that there are strengthened institutions all over the world. This involves building capacities of institutions to plan, budget and deliver evidence-based programmes that prevent, and eliminate Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), Violence Against Children (VAC), and Harmful Practices (HP).
As one of the main capacity building interventions under this outcome, a gender sensitive curriculum for the in-service and pre-service training institutions that integrates VAWG, VAC, HP and SRHR was developed.
The training institutions that were targeted for this review include: Uganda Management Institute, Law development Centre, Civil Service College Uganda and Nsamizi Training Institute of Social Development.
In the middle of these acronyms and non-profit organization jargon, I learnt that one of the reasons for high domestic violence cases is refusal to appreciate that gender is a cross-cutting issue.
Some men misconstrue that gender equality equates to being an unmanly husband. It means sharp-tongued ridicule from colleagues. This is not true. Gender means appreciating that we all have a stake to play in the development of our families and the nation.
I traveled with my wife to all the ante-natal visits when she was expecting each of our children. But, in most cases, I was one of only two or three men in a room of women seated along or with other children. Nobody fully appreciates the courage, the joy and the pain a wife goes through during pregnancy. The birthing process is courageous. Men running away from such responsibilities like scared rabbits worsens the matter. We should support each other in all aspects so as to have responsible families.
Appreciation is not directly related to gender-based violence but such responsible care alleviates any such notion. A culture of respect – including one where men see other male role models of responsible treatment – holds gender mistreatment at bay.
Beyond culture, it takes political, social, and religious will to eliminate gender-based violence from our country. According to data from police, at least 1,180 cases of domestic violence were registered in the Lango Sub-region in a span of just eight months in 2020. This is not any different from other regions. It is also sad to note that domestic violence leads to untold sufferings in families. These include deaths, juvenile crimes, and malnutrition.
The Bible says let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband (Ephesians 5:33).
In July 2021, Daily Monitor reported a story about a woman who stabbed the husband to death in Makindye, Kampala. She allegedly stabbed her husband during a fight after he reportedly tried to throw her out of their house at night when she denied him sex. This implies that gender-based violence leads to more serious crimes. It affects everybody and calls for everyone’s effort to fight it.
But, it takes you and I to alleviate this vice. In primary school, we were told that a stitch in time saves nine. Let’s stitch away at respect far beyond the number nine.
The writer Frank Obonyo is Senior Public Relations Officer, Law Development Centre.
