Susanne Dietmann
26 April 2007
Johannesburg — One in four women in an abusive relationship, a woman killed approximately every week by her close male partner: these figures, from People Opposing Women Abuse, a Johannesburg-based non-profit, indicate the extent of the problem posed by gender-related violence in South Africa.
Providing women with the means to counter abuse is undoubtedly of key importance. But, notes Rabbuh Raletsemo from the Johannesburg office of EngenderHealth, a non-profit headquartered in New York, "Even if women are empowered, they go home and find the same man -- who is not empowered."
Various groups are working to change this situation, however. Their initiatives include Men as Partners (MAP), a global programme pioneered by EngenderHealth that was introduced about a decade ago in South Africa in collaboration with the Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa.
Several organisations now implement MAP throughout the country, where the first yearly 'Men as Partners Week' is currently underway. The Apr. 23-30 campaign includes public rallies, and drives to encourage voluntary testing for HIV. According to the website of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, adult HIV prevalence in South Africa is put at 18.8 percent.
Using flyers, radio spots and the like, MAP campaigners try to get men aged 16 and upwards to join their workshops (about 100 now go through the programme every week). The four- to five-day events focus on traditional roles for men and women, amongst others, as well as male and female perspectives on gender stereotypes.
"In the workshops, our life skill educators try to make men talk. They ask them what it means to them to be a man Many South Africans still have in mind that they have to act like 'real men', which to them means not to cry or show any weakness," Raletsemo told IPS.
"Some of the participants go back home and try out cooking or cleaning! When they meet again, they talk about the challenge of this new experience."
Notes Donald Ambe from the Sonke Gender Justice Network, one of the groups active in the MAP programme, "Many men fear losing their power."
With most of the courses currently taking place during the week, however, many men find that work commitments prevent them from attending. EngenderHealth has responded by trying to set up more weekend workshops, and there are also plans to get employers involved in implementing the MAP programme.
In addition, MAP runs a programme for secondary school children that deals with violence and its consequences. But Ambe believes awareness raising should start even earlier -- for boys as young as four -- and suggests holding workshops for these children. "At that age they can still easily change, while at primary school a child is already able to inflict violence," he told IPS.
What of follow-up measures, to ensure that lessons learned do not remain within the confines of workshops?
At the moment, "We just do workshops and don't have any after-workshop programmes," Nhlanhla Mabizela, also from EngenderHealth, told IPS. "Therefore in the near future we are piloting a ' Healing Circle for Men' in Hillbrow, where men can come in for counselling group therapy." (Hillbrow is a suburb of Johannesburg that is notorious for crime.)
Over six to eight weeks, twenty meetings will be held to enable men to deal with anger and other feelings that often lead to violence. "If this programme isn't successful, we have to look for another approaches -- like one-on-one sessions, or residence programmes," said Mabizela.
Hasmita Hardudh, a psychologist with the Family and Marriage Society of South Africa (FAMSA), has found men receptive to advice on dealing with what she describes as a shifting "social and economic status, a power struggle within households and relationships".
"More and more women reject the traditional women's role. Men start feeling quite frustrated with their situation and they get more and more interested in doing something about it. Even if they don't talk in our workshops, they take in the information," she told IPS.
"For the last three years, more and more men are coming for our services Men want to have a programme they feel comfortable with, and this is what we try to provide. It takes quite long to get them on board, but it works."
FAMSA also tries to reach children, and through them their parents. For the past 12 years the organisation has run a programme in Johannesburg schools to address violence; up to 6,000 students pass through it each year.
"Many children recommend that their parents should also attend such a programme, and more and more parents come to school and ask for our programmes," Hardudh explained. As a result, FAMSA started setting up weekend workshops for parents.
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