A survey in Swaziland
suggested four in 10 women believe that a husband is justified in beating his
wife because he is the head of the household.
This is not the first time that so-called ‘Swazi culture’ has been investigated.
This is not the first time that so-called ‘Swazi culture’ has been investigated.
The APA news agency said
a demographic health survey called the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey
Comparative Report gave a number reasons for wife-beating which included; ‘if
she refused to have sex with him, if she argued with him, if she went out
without telling him, if she neglected the children and if she had sex with
other men’.
APA reported, ‘Silindelo
Nkosi, the Communication and Advocacy Officer for Swaziland Action Group
Against Abuse (SWAGAA) said, “These beliefs of justifying abuse have increased
to the worst rate resulting in more young women dying in the hands of their
lovers or husbands.”’
It added, ‘Clinical Psychologist
Ndo Mdlalose describes this as an abusive mentality where men also tend to
claim they are correcting their women by beating them.’
The report told us
nothing new about Swazi culture and its abuse of women and girls.
The world famous medical
journal, the Lancet in 2009 reported that one in three
girls in Swaziland had experienced sexual violence by the age of 18,
according to a study.
Sexual violence was defined
as forced intercourse; coerced intercourse; attempted unwanted intercourse;
unwanted touching; and forced touching.
The most common
perpetrators of the first incident of sexual violence were men or boys from the
girl’s neighbourhood or boyfriends or husbands. Over a quarter of all incidents
of sexual violence occurred in the respondent’s own home, with a fifth
occurring at the home of a friend, relative or neighbour.
In June 2008 it was reported that the National Democratic and
Health Survey found that 40 percent of men in Swaziland said it is all right to
beat women. The same year, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) found that the status of
some women in Swaziland is so low that they are practically starved at meal
times, because men folk eat first and if there is not enough food
for everyone, the women must go without.
Women, who under
traditional Swazi law are treated as children and are in effect owned by their
husbands or fathers, were expected to live lives devoted to their men and
families. A report on the State of the Population in Swaziland said that Swazi
women were responsible for childbirth, raising the children and taking care of
the entire family.
Women are expected to
give their husbands sex on demand and those who refuse have been blamed for men
who rape children.
See also
SWAZI CULTURE LETS WOMEN
STARVE
TWISTED SWAZI MEN RAPE
CHILDREN
SHOCKING LIVES FOR SWAZI
WOMEN
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2008/06/shocking-lifes-for-swazi-women.html
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