Some women in Plateau have called for increased awareness creation at various levels toward ending the spate of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the society.
Some of the women spoke at a training organised by a non-governmental organisation — Equal Access International — on Tuesday in Jos.The training brought together women from Jos South, Barkin and Riyom local government areas of the state to basically develop a Local Action Plan (SAP) toward promoting peace and security in the communities.
Mrs Zainab Gbobaniyi, the Advocacy Coordinator, Women for Women International-Nigeria, called on Nigerians to speak against the menace.Gbobaniyi, who decried the increasing rate of domestic violence in the society, also called on victims to speak out and seek help at all times.She called on key stakeholders and relevant government agencies to ensure adequate advocacy and awareness creation on the dangers of GBV to the society.“
The culture of silence by victims of abuse must be discouraged; victims must learn to speak out because that’s the only way to end this menace.”Violence against women is on the increase, and unless and until we begin to act by speaking against it, we still have a long way to go.”We have to do a lot in the aspect of advocacy and awareness creation on the need to end domestic violence,” she said.The advocacy coordinator also harped on the need for organisations to support women by making them economically viable, insisting that most women endure violence because they don’t have other means of livelihoods to fall back to.Also speaking, Mrs Cecilia Chaimang, the President of the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS) in Riyom, advised parents to ensure proper training of the boy child.
She said that most of the challenges in the society are products of bad parenting and negligence.”We pay too much attention on training the girl-child to become a good wife and better mother, but forget the boy-child.”This is why when he grows up, he feels he can do anything, including molesting a female folks and get away with it.”My male child cooks, washes cloths and plates, sweeps and I also taught him the need to respect others no matter their gender.”So, parents need to do more in fixing the home front, particularly the training of the boy-child to become more responsible,” she advised.
Mr Gad Shamaki, the Deputy Country Director of Equal Access, said that the meeting was to develop and domesticate an action plan that would enable women participate actively toward promoting peace and security in communities. He explained that the action plan would improve women participation not only in the area of peace and security, but decision making, development and stability, among others.(NAN
