A few weeks ago I received a call from a friend that left me shocked; "hello……..I have just dropped off from a bus and a group of men who stood beside the bus stop unknown to me rudely started touching all over my body, I tried to help myself out of the group but as they were many each one touching his own part I didn't managed….luckily I slipped out of their hands and run away". I thank GOD they didn't rape her. I still don't believe that awkward act could happen in our country.
Mind you it was early in the morning when the friend was going to the office. She assured me that she had put on a decent formal dress that covered her body in a respectful manner as per our cultural context. I do not mean those who move half-naked deserve the abuse no!
I am quite sure this is not an isolated event but there has been a growing tendency for the similar acts to happen in such a
Mind you it was early in the morning when the friend was going to the office. She assured me that she had put on a decent formal dress that covered her body in a respectful manner as per our cultural context. I do not mean those who move half-naked deserve the abuse no!
I am quite sure this is not an isolated event but there has been a growing tendency for the similar acts to happen in such a
place which is in the middle of the city we refer to as the "Geneva of Africa"- Arusha.
The response of the society to acts like this is in question and some people may get surprised to see you shocked by the abuse like these in public places. They find normalcy in awful acts like these its shame!.
No one sees a problem here, as if gender based violences have been embraced with all the 'blessings'.
But this doesn't happen to parts of Arusha only, for now different parts of the country do experience their own kind of harassments, mistreatment and all forms of gender based violence (GBV). It needs a total u-turn of the society to change the way GBV is perceived and how we react in rectifying the shocking trend..
The UN-Declaration and Platform of Action proclaimed that; "violence against women" as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether occurring in public or private life".
We should not forget that women are protected internationally against gender based violence through a number of legal instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1984) under article 25 that demands for respect of women as mothers while article 16 demands protection of women as the foundation of family unit.
In some occupations and work places such as bars, our society has reached an extent to condone the harassment and made it part and parcel of the business culture.
In the markets sites, women also aren't safe from harassments that affect their engagements in economic activities. The study conducted by Equality for Growth (EfG) in 2009 revealed that over 92.7% of women traders in Ilala municipal markets experience verbal abuses while 39.7% experience some forms of harassments and 33.9% of women reported multiple incidences of abuses.
It should be noted that, only 2 per cent of the women from the study conducted in Ilala municipal markets managed to report the abuses to the market authorities. This could be due to a number of reasons among the leading ones unfavourable environment of filing the charges based on gender violence and in some cases lack of good knowledge on gender based violence to the responsible authorities discourages the women to take actions as their incidences aren't taken serious.
As Fariji Msonsa puts it in his article; "Where abuse is language of trade" that "both the abused and the abusers regard it a normal thing, meaning it is not regarded as gender violence because the environment allows it".
These acts don't happen to only those who do the kind of jobs regarded as low grade like bar tenders but it happens to even the most educated professionals in offices.
Of course the extent and forms of harassments and mistreatments may differ. But the bottom line is they all face the same problem that is manifested within our society of running short of morals and lack of respect for dignity of women which is an issue that needs to be seriously addressed and put to an end.
Have the people engaged in such acts ever asked themselves how would they feel or react if such disgusting acts would happen to their mothers or sisters or their daughters?
If they won't manage to witness or tolerate gender based violence being done to their most loved ones then why doing it to other women, men, girls and boys?
Is there any changes of the rule of; "do what you would love others to do to yourself"? If no, then shouldn't all of us in our different capacities get involved in preventing and taking action against gender based violence. We should have courage to say no and stop such acts.
I acknowledge the enormous efforts done by the government, police force and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help curbing the violence and harassments to women. Efforts like establishment of 417 gender and children desk facilities in police stations are initiatives which should be supported not only by the authorities but also by every good citizen of this country.
All these efforts will mean nothing if at all each citizen will not take up action against all forms of the gender based violence.
We must not allow our society to be unsafe place by culminating cruel behaviour emanating from ruthless people who can dare mistreating women, men, girls and boys. It is our own responsibility to protect each other and especially vulnerable women and children.
By Michael Dalali
Michael is the writer based in Dar es Salaam can be accessed via: michaeldalali@gmail.com
The response of the society to acts like this is in question and some people may get surprised to see you shocked by the abuse like these in public places. They find normalcy in awful acts like these its shame!.
No one sees a problem here, as if gender based violences have been embraced with all the 'blessings'.
But this doesn't happen to parts of Arusha only, for now different parts of the country do experience their own kind of harassments, mistreatment and all forms of gender based violence (GBV). It needs a total u-turn of the society to change the way GBV is perceived and how we react in rectifying the shocking trend..
The UN-Declaration and Platform of Action proclaimed that; "violence against women" as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether occurring in public or private life".
We should not forget that women are protected internationally against gender based violence through a number of legal instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1984) under article 25 that demands for respect of women as mothers while article 16 demands protection of women as the foundation of family unit.
In some occupations and work places such as bars, our society has reached an extent to condone the harassment and made it part and parcel of the business culture.
In the markets sites, women also aren't safe from harassments that affect their engagements in economic activities. The study conducted by Equality for Growth (EfG) in 2009 revealed that over 92.7% of women traders in Ilala municipal markets experience verbal abuses while 39.7% experience some forms of harassments and 33.9% of women reported multiple incidences of abuses.
It should be noted that, only 2 per cent of the women from the study conducted in Ilala municipal markets managed to report the abuses to the market authorities. This could be due to a number of reasons among the leading ones unfavourable environment of filing the charges based on gender violence and in some cases lack of good knowledge on gender based violence to the responsible authorities discourages the women to take actions as their incidences aren't taken serious.
As Fariji Msonsa puts it in his article; "Where abuse is language of trade" that "both the abused and the abusers regard it a normal thing, meaning it is not regarded as gender violence because the environment allows it".
These acts don't happen to only those who do the kind of jobs regarded as low grade like bar tenders but it happens to even the most educated professionals in offices.
Of course the extent and forms of harassments and mistreatments may differ. But the bottom line is they all face the same problem that is manifested within our society of running short of morals and lack of respect for dignity of women which is an issue that needs to be seriously addressed and put to an end.
Have the people engaged in such acts ever asked themselves how would they feel or react if such disgusting acts would happen to their mothers or sisters or their daughters?
If they won't manage to witness or tolerate gender based violence being done to their most loved ones then why doing it to other women, men, girls and boys?
Is there any changes of the rule of; "do what you would love others to do to yourself"? If no, then shouldn't all of us in our different capacities get involved in preventing and taking action against gender based violence. We should have courage to say no and stop such acts.
I acknowledge the enormous efforts done by the government, police force and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help curbing the violence and harassments to women. Efforts like establishment of 417 gender and children desk facilities in police stations are initiatives which should be supported not only by the authorities but also by every good citizen of this country.
All these efforts will mean nothing if at all each citizen will not take up action against all forms of the gender based violence.
We must not allow our society to be unsafe place by culminating cruel behaviour emanating from ruthless people who can dare mistreating women, men, girls and boys. It is our own responsibility to protect each other and especially vulnerable women and children.
By Michael Dalali
Michael is the writer based in Dar es Salaam can be accessed via: michaeldalali@gmail.com
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