MWENEZI ward 13 councillor Takura Mudavose says African communities should not translate patriarchy into gender-based violence.
Mudavose made the remarks at an event to commemorate the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV), a global campaign to raise awareness about gender-based violence.
The event held on Wednesday in Petronella village, Mwenezi district, was hosted by Action Against Hunger non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with its local partners Africa AHEAD and Nutrition Action Zimbabwe, and with funding from USAID-Zimbabwe.
Running under the theme UNITE! Activism to End Violence Against Women and Girls, the campaign ran from November 25 (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to December 10 (International Human Rights Day).
“Though patriarchal backgrounds are part of our culture, this should not be an excuse to unleash violence against both women and men, as we commemorate 16 days of Activism Against GBV, I am pleased that we are establishing roots of action against it,” Mudavose said.
“Placing women at the core of development processes implies doing away with major impediments to equality hence our call for collective action from all stakeholders in ending gender-based violence.”
He added that empowering communities to fight violence against women and girls is thus critical and more importantly, the judicial system needs to be very responsive and hold perpetrators of gender-based violence to account.
“Violence against women and girls is a serious pandemic that calls for continuous efforts to nip it in the bud,” Madavose said.
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Speaking on behalf of Action Against Hunger, Sikulani Phikelele said: “Women are mostly victims in the rural areas because they don`t know where to report cases, hence this GBV awareness will be an eye opener to them. All cases are reported and everyone lives in harmony.”
Statistics show that one in every three women and girls have experienced some form of abuse in their lifetime.
Zimbabwe has witnessed a surge in cases of early pregnancies and statistics show that between September 2021 and August 2022, over 20 000 pupils from primary and secondary schools dropped out of school after falling pregnant.
