14 Jul 2014

While men are sometimes victims of violence and abuse, most of them never report to the police or seek assistance from relevant stakeholders, says Kanye senior gender officer, Ms Tebogo Motlogelwa.

Speaking at a community service day at Gasita in the Southern District, Ms Motlogelwa said violence against men occurred every day, including at home, work and in public places.

She added that attempting to control a person by causing emotional harm destroyed their self-esteem and made the victim vulnerable and susceptible to domination and ill-health.

“Sadly, some men are under pressure because of Setswana culture, which labels them as cowards if they report violence,” she said.

She explained that unequal power relations between males and females was the root cause of gender violence, adding that such relations were exacerbated by harmful cultural beliefs and practices that were used as an excuse to dominate and abuse others.

She said societal norms and traditional mindsets placed men at a level of superiority, power and control while women were viewed as minors and expected to be submissive.

“In Setswana culture, men are regarded as bread winners and heads of their families and communities. Therefore it would be shameful for a man to report a woman to the police after being violated,” she said.

However, said Ms Motlogelwa, while there were cases of females who perpetuated violence against males and the overall pattern of violence showed that males were abusers while females were the victims.

She told the community that government had availed assistance programmes that were meant to assist women to participate in businesses and uplift lives. She commended women in Kanye for taking advantage of such assistance programmes and working hard to improve their livelihoods.

“The problem is that most of them produce low quality goods. Ends