Violence Against Women
Lawrence Temfwe February 5th, 2007
No institution has influenced the Zambian political, social and economic commentary as much as the Post Newspaper. Its clear and deliberate viewpoints on morality, social justice and personal responsibility has made it a favorite spokesperson for millions of voiceless Zambians.
Take the example of an article of 29th January which exposed a prominent politician who battered his wife and got away with it even though she reported him to the police. In its comment the Post wrote, “Those in politics…should take a leading role in the campaign to stop violence against women. If prominent politicians…can batter women and get away with it, what message are they sending?
The Post must be commended for speaking out for the voiceless women and girls who are being sexually harassed, raped and battered and yet are not getting any justice from our criminal justice systems even when the perpetrators of such acts are known.
But the Post must also do something about those pornographic pictures of underage girls being initiated into adulthood it displays on its front pages if it wants to portray itself as a principled newspaper. The paper is teaching us a lot about the responsibility of the police and politicians towards vulnerable women and children. We must ask it to do something about corporate responsibility when it comes to polluting the mind and the soul.
It is such disgusting pictures of young innocent girls that send the message that women are inferior to men. The Post as a paper committed to upholding the dignity of women and vulnerable children nullifies its voice of reason when it abuse girls who cannot speak for themselves in this manner.
In Zambia as elsewhere, the liberty of women is the best gauge of the spiritual, political and social transformation of a society. Daniel Etounga-Mangauelle wrote “Without an African woman who is free and responsible, the African man will be unable to stand on his own.” I know what he is talking about; I have just celebrated twenty years of marriage. The Bible puts it this way, “In the image of God he created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them… (Gen.1:27, 28). Male and female; both bear the image of God and both were blessed to enjoy all that God gave to the earth. And for Christian women and men we have the added benefit to enjoy and experience the saving grace of God on equal terms. Let us go out and model lifestyle that respect and honor women to a world that is distorting the image of a woman through battering, divorce and pornography and other forms of human rubbish.
