The United Nations General Assembly defines violence against women as “Any act of gender based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”

Violence against women is a scourge that is all too prevalent in our society. Our sensibilities are assailed when we read stories of infant girls, barely out of the crib being sexually exploited and injured. We are left dumb-founded, by the utter mind-boggling depravity of reports of octogenarian women being brutally raped. We question human nature and the sanity of the ABSU-5, the young men who filmed their gang raping of a girl pleading to die rather than suffer repeated sexual onslaught. How many times have we heard of women being bludgeoned to death or being deformed by their spouses? The sad reality is that gender-based violence continues to persist as one of the most systematic and prevalent forms of abuses in the society.

From the few examples sighted, it is hard not to accept that violence against the weaker sex is one of the most condemnable manifestations of man in his lowest primordial state, what I choose to call “man as monster.”

The figure obtained from the United Nations Secretary General’s global campaign, “Unite to End Violence against Women,” indicates that up to 70 per cent of women experience violence in their lifetime. According to the World Bank data in its  World Development Report, Investing in Health, women aged between 15 to 44 years are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, car accidents, war and malaria.

Gender based violence continues to fester in our communities  because it is often embedded in social customs that allow it to be perpetrated with impunity, and in many cases, without being considered as violence, let alone a crime. Violent behaviour towards young girls and women occurs in all social and economic classes. The male dominated power structure that upholds and entrenches male authority in the home will often not question a man who “disciplines” his wife by “slapping her around a bit”, which many people may have heard countless times in beer-parlor banter.

The reality is that this “beer parlor banter” is a looming pandemic that needs to be addressed as a serious and pressing problem in society. We must not keep mute. Violence against women threatens social and economic development while undermining the family structure. It not only takes a deep and enduring toll on the entire family, but also on the next generation.

Women are the linchpin, keeping families and communities together.  We must therefore demand accountability for their violations, and take concrete steps to end the impunity of violence, weather sexual or otherwise.  Apart from instituting and enforcing laws that protect women, some of the most important ways to address the root cause of gender based violence are education, eradicating discrimination and changing the mindset of those who view the perpetration of violence as acceptable. Our men must understand the fact that violence against women is unacceptable and has no place in decent society. This underlines the importance of effective advocacy and the raising of public awareness.

The Minister of Youth Development, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, who was one of the most vocal public figures in condemning the ABSU-5 rape incident and who sought help for the unfortunate victim, will be taking another step forward by convening a White Ribbon Conference. White Ribbon is an international campaign organised to stop violence against women.

The aim of the conference is to effectively engage young men in the White Ribbon Campaign as ambassadors and watchdogs to stop violence against young women. The conference will bring together researchers, policy makers, practitioners in related fields, health and social workers and students from tertiary institutions to share knowledge and practices and debate current issues around the conference theme. It ultimately seeks to contribute to changing the mindset, attitude and behaviours that help to perpetuate men’s violence against young girls and women. Following the public outcry that followed the ABSU-5 rape saga, the White Ribbon Conference could not come at a more opportune time. It is just one of the many interventions that we need to draw more awareness to a growing social malaise.

In denouncing the conduct of the young men involved in the ABSU rape saga, the Youth Minister stated that “Rape or violence against women has no place in our society.”

The conference planned by the Youth Minister will undoubtedly generate a much needed momentum for awareness and sensitisation in the public domain. This is especially important among our young men, who with the huge peer-group influence they exert, can help to spread the word and help change mindsets.

After the White Ribbon Conference, it is hoped that civil society organisations will be even more motivated and encouraged to continue to speak out against gender based violence and that governments and NGOs will provide more resources that will help to protect our defenseless young girls from the mental and physical damage of violence.

•Lisa is a freelance journalist and social commentator.

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