WUNRN
CONGO - 1/3 OF CONGO MEN ADMIT
COMMITTING SEXUAL VIOLENCE - STUDY
David Smith, Africa Correspondent - 31
October 2012
A new report into
rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo is striking for the number of men
self-reporting acts of sexual violence towards women. Photograph: Jose
Cendon/AFP/Getty Images
More than one in three men surveyed in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo's war-torn east admits committing sexual assault, and
three in four believe that a woman who "does not dress decently is asking
to be raped", researchers have found.
Some 61.4% of men interviewed said women sometimes
deserve to be beaten; 42.7% think that "if a woman doesn't show physical
resistance when forced to have sex, it's not rape"; and 27.9% believe that
sometimes women want to be raped.
Well over 40% of the men polled
asserted that a man should reject his wife when she has been raped.
The findings show that sexual
violence is much more than a weapon of war, activists said, and reflect
widespread acceptance of patriarchal norms and rape myths. They also pointed to
The study was carried out by the South
African-based Sonke Gender
Justice Network and the Brazilian non-government organisation Promundo in and near Goma in
The self-reporting of men is
particularly unusual and striking. Some 34% admit having carried out some form
of sexual violence in conflict, homes or other settings.
Almost two-thirds agree with the
statement that "women should accept partner violence to keep the family
together", and almost a third endorse the view that "a woman who is
raped has provoked this by her attitude". More than a quarter believe that
"a man can force a woman to have sex and she may enjoy it".
The preliminary report notes:
"In qualitative interviews, men openly shared their opinions about the
'right to have sex' with their female partner even if she refuses; most men did
not consider it to be rape to force their wives to have sex with them. Other
men took any 'provocation' by a woman to mean that she wanted sex."
As an example, it quotes a
48-year-old man who said a girl entered his shop and asked for water:
"When a girl is asking for water in such a way, she wants sex. So I took
her in the middle of my shop. I think she liked it because her body accepted me
to enter."
The study, part of the International Men and Gender Equality Survey, also suggests
that many men are themselves victims of violence, including sexual violence,
and shows a clear association between exposure to violence and increased
likelihood of subsequent perpetration.
It makes recommendations
including far greater promotion of gender equality in schools and public policy
and a massive campaign of psycho-social care for boys and girls exposed to
multiple forms of violence at young ages.
It is estimated that at least half a million women
have been raped in eastern
Henny Slegh, Promundo's regional coordinator in
the
"Gender inequalities exist
everywhere but many parts of the world live under better conditions. In this
environment it is clearly worse. There are not educational opportunities to
change these attitudes. That's what responses and interventions must focus
on."
But there are grounds for
optimism, Slegh added, in the honesty and engagement of respondents. "Men
and women said: 'This is the first time I got asked questions where I can tell
my story.' One man said he'd raped a girl a week before because he felt it was
normal. He was exchanging opinions and it helped him see it another way. The
men were very open and said they would like groups discussions more
often."
This was also welcomed by Micheline Muzaneza, a
former Congolese child refugee who now works with victims at the Sonke network
in
Gender inequality is handed down
through the generations, she continued. "They think a woman must be in the
kitchen, that a woman is like a child. The cultural attitude is that a man can
beat a woman. They grew up like that, seeing their father beat their mother. To
punish a rival armed movement, they say: 'Let's go and rape their women and
show we are stronger than them.' The woman becomes an object."
Heal
Africa runs a hospital for rape victims in Goma and recently reported a sharp increase in cases because of rising militia fighting.
Emmanuel Baabo, leader of its projects dealing with sexual violence, said:
"The attitude of the men who have been asked in this study is not
acceptable. How can one think that a woman wants to be raped?
"But I am not surprised at
the outcome of this survey. It shows the ignorance of many Congolese men and
that in the Congolese culture women are still today often seen as inferior to men.
This attitude is also a question of education. The more men are educated, the
more they respect generally women."
He added: "The armed groups
consider violence as a weapon of war. And [seeing] that the system of justice
is not working correctly, the impunity makes the situation even worse."
War in eastern
Sonke is calling for for more
engagement with men and women and a transformation of gender relations and
social justice. Dean Peacock, its co-founder and executive director, said:
"On the question of whether men can change, the answer is certainly yes,
including in
"There's also evidence that
a range of interventions can speed that up: group education, mass media
efforts, policy change, including the development and implementation of laws
that sanction and deter violence, and disrupt the toxic combination of men's
sense of entitlement to women's bodies and their sense of impunity for using
violence against women.
"All of those interventions
are needed desperately in