North-Western Province Permanent Secretary, Eastern Mambwe has said there is need to discard traditional practices that contribute to gender based violence in the country.
Dr. Mambwe said any traditional practice that disadvantages women and girls from exercising their human rights in society was a negative one and should therefore be stopped.
He was speaking in a speech read on his behalf by Solwezi District Commissioner Frobisher Fulayi at a function to mark the end of 16 days of activism against gender violence against women.
The function, which was in the Boma conference hall, was held under the theme “commit, act, we can end violence against women” in Solwezi.
Dr. Mambwe said although it was not easy to deal with problems of culture such as wife battering and the practice of unsafe sex in marriages, people must now be ready to change their thinking and begin to mutual understanding with their spouses.
“We have seen men and women being beaten and battered in the name of tradition without any form of protection from members of the society. We have also seen and heard how defenseless young girls have suffered at the hands of traditional marriage counselors popularly known as alangizi.” He said.
Dr. Mambwe stated that it is government’s desire to see that the ongoing constitutional making process by the National Constitution Review Conference (NCC) will address human and women’s rights as well as social economic and cultural rights to attain gender equity in the nation.
He has since urged Zambians to condemn all forms of violence especially against women and girls countrywide.
ZANIS
Here is a solution put a close in the new constitution that makes it criminal for traditional practices that degrade women. Our mothers sisters cousins and grandmothers cannot have the tities showing for a ceremony probably written by men for their amusment in the seventeen hundreds. It stopped and reappeared in 1980 after a 90 or so years haiatus. Enforce officers to arrest even a headman just for the sake of clarity even if a judge aquits him a message shall be sent.
This “gender violence” thing should not only be one sided. There are a lot of men out there too who are constantly being abused and beaten by their wives but can’t do anything about it because the whole notion seems to favor the the gender that is generally percieved to be physically weaker than the other. I know a number of men suffereing in silence, both mentally and physically due to the violence unleashed on them by their abusive wives.
How can wife/husband battering be seen az a cultural practice? And how would one define safe s.e.x in marriage?
The moment abuse of any form is seen as ‘cultural problems’, then it will be hard to tackle the whole issue. Whether it’s in villages or mu town, abuse is abuse.Let the donor funded policies against abuse be uniformly implemented across the country.
Well said Mwanawakwitu, not untill we know the exact purpose of the ceremonies,then only can we appreciate them,otherwise i personally take it like some self appointed dictator gathered up some naked women and had them parade and dance before him,then someone complained a bit and dressed them up to the waist, all the Nyau dancers dress up up to the neck,infact they even cover their faces, makishi dancers dress up,but when its women they make them dance naked,its all entertainement,why dont they let their wives do it in the comfort of their bedrooms,times are changing,i think we should change some of these degrading and inhuman practises,but again if a whole president can go get entertained by naked women in swaziland,who are we to stop it
Culture vs modernity. Mostly culture is misunderstood, misinterpreted and considered old fashioned, yet it shaped today’s most respectful, tolerant, intelligent, educated leaders we are very proud of in our country today whose marriages have stood the test of time.
Todays marriages mostly last until after the reception. Then its divorce
PS you dont just say ‘there is need’, PUT LAWS and let the LAWS rule. Too much talking and no action!
Do not blame it on someone else. People wake up!!! Do the young girls and women who walk half naked during day time some of them in offices do that in the name of any African Culture??
#6..point! there is always two sides to every coin..we need to understand what brought us to where we are..before we can try to change it…
Initiates during to traditional music after their initiation ceremony
Mwanawakwithu and Smooth criminal; Firstly realise that there is not one Zambian culture, so you cant compare developments in Eastern Province Nyau to North Western traditions. Secondly, when we become Europeanised and start seeing tits as sex objects we should not assume everyone sees them as such. If anything, the same Europeans who exported the “cover-up culture” to us in the name of civilisation are right now taking off their clothes through nudist camps and are promoting this as psychologically liberating. They say nudity is a higher form of civilisation. So be careful what you copy from Europe and how you copy it.
As for violence on women, look no further than the modern day Lobola practice. Nowadays Lobola has been commercialised and as such women are now being seen as commodities that you have to buy at a very high price. So after a man ‘buys’ a woman he thinks he owns her and can do anything with her. Originally Lobola in many Zambian cultures was a token fee of appreciation and the marriages usually stood the test of time! Nowadays greedy parents think they have to sell their daughters to the highest bidder..and thats where the problem lies. Lets get back to our roots!
I agree with all the bloggers that have raised noticed a common mistake among Africans in the dispora who always uses the phrase ‘African culture ‘ or ‘Zambian Culture’ like Africa or Zambia has a homogeneous traditions.They decide to ignore the diversity.Though I have not studied or exposed to all 73 tribes in Zambia, I have had the privilege of attending traditional marriage initiation( marriage counseling) of 7 tribes and none of ba shibukombe taught the men in these meetings that you should abuse or beat your wife.The teachings are very enlightening and i gained very practical marriage conflict resolution approaches. My wish is that such information should be out there to educate those that just enter the marriage contract with nothing to work with but strength!