GITEGA December 21st (ABP) – The National Women’s Forum organized in Gitega (center of the country), a two-day awareness workshop on the commitment of men in the fight against violence against women and girls.
That workshop was organized, with funding from UN-Women, for women and men, model couples and couples in whom cases of gender-based violence occur.
The president of the national women’s forum, Mrs. Emérence Bucumi pointed out that a couple is considered an association where the man and the woman must help each other for the interest of the household and the country.
She further clarified that men have been involved in the fight against violence against women and girls because according to her, awareness raising only for women is worthless.
“Men must therefore know that from birth that no one chooses to be born a girl or a boy. It is God who makes it that way. God created man and woman to multiply. Both must respect each other. They are called to live together and seek how to develop and how to feed their children. It is therefore not necessary for the man to discredit the woman. Both spouses must commit together for the benefits of the household and the country. They also need to sit down together and start a dialogue if there is something wrong,” explained the president of the national women’s forum.
Based on that, Mrs. Bucumi invited young girls and boys not to hastily start their homes when they are young, even if the law allows them to marry respectively at 18 and 21 years old and that for the majority of times, their homes do not hold up.
To better combat that violence, the president of the national women’s forum called on young girls and women to change their mentality and understand that there is no work reserved only for men or women.
She also called on young girls and boys to understand that a couple in a union must share tasks and help each other and that according to her that will help to considerably reduce those cases of violence against women and girls.