By Sima Bateyunga:
We the members of MenEngage Tanzania proclaim that working with men is critical to the struggle to eradicate gender-based violence.
In recent years, there has been heightened awareness and advocacy related to the plight of gender-based violence, particularly violence against women. November 25 to December 10 marks the 16 Days of Activism on Gender Violence, a global and national campaign to raise awareness of the pervasiveness and gravity of violence that women face. As such, campaign events and dialogue often focus on women as victims of violence but fail to highlight male roles and norms in perpetuating or potentially ending gender-based violence.
In many societies, including Tanzania, gender-based violence occurs across all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds and is rooted in the prevailing patriarchal system perpetuated by the society. Men have been socialized to practice gender-based violence towards women by the behavior they observe in their parents, guardians, and from the surrounding community in which they were raised. It is clear that any strategy to end gender-based violence requires transforming the attitudes of men in addition to women and the surrounding community.
Still, according to TDHS (2010), 54% of women and 38% of men agree that a husband has a right to beat his wife for different number of reasons, including burning food, going out without telling her husband, and rejecting to have sex with him. That is to say that the majority of Tanzanian men do not support gender-based violence. Through experiences in the community, we have seen that men can change their attitudes to be more gender equitable.
Yet we fail to recognize these men and encourage them speak out against gender-based violence. Those men that do speak out should be honored as ambassadors for change in their communities. Above all, men must be encouraged to be part of the solution to gender-based violence, not just the problem.
One in every three (1:3) women has experienced physical violence, forced sex and other tortures in her life according to UN statistics (unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news). Women aged 15-44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, car accidents, war, and malaria according to the World Health Organization.
Gender-based violence remains one of the most fundamental obstacles to development achievements worldwide. Based on this understanding, world governments and non-governmental organizations have decided to give priority to the matter by supporting several initiatives and interventions in to reduce gender-based violence.
Sima Bateyunga is the coordinator of the MenEngage Tanzania network.