By Prince Gora
"I was sexually harassed by one of my lecturers for 4 years, the only thing I could ask myself was, why?why me? I was not specially pretty, I was not even formed at the time and I liked to dress as a rapper. It took me time to realize that it was not my fault, I was the victim and he was a sexual predator. Only God knows how I finally graduated."
Above is a comment from one YouTube viewer who had just watched the BBC documentary, "Sex for grades" - Undercover in Nigerian and Ghananian Universities , released in October this year. The documentary ignited a dying voice and got some professors fired.
While I haven't experienced sexual abuse on a personal level, the documentary touched me and challenged me to raise a voice beyong the #16DaysOfActivismAgainstGenderBasedViolence. And I think we should all be challenged to act. We should do so not because we are brave nor courageous but simply because when we see injustice, we choose not to be helpless about it and do something, small or big to try and make things right.
You may not be directly affected by these sexual predators but just think of your sisters, your cousins, your friends or your daughters who may potentially find themselves in a position where no matter how hard they work, no matter how how dedicated they are to their work,they will still not get what they rightfully deserve until or unless they give up their priceless bodies to these predators.
Our society, being a patriarchal one is usually quick to put the blame on the girlchild... The recent bizzare proposal by the Zimbabwe Gender commission (ZGC) for female university students to wear uniforms is testament to that. It's time to put this to an end!
So what is the way forward?
I can not possibly lay out a roadmap of rooting out this virus from our universities and colleges but I can borrow from what has worked in the past and what is being done elsewhere while leaving room for better ways and techniques to be invented and implemented.
Here are 4 ways which I think can be used to enhance the efforts already underway in ending #SexForGrades:
1. Build public support
I believe that an educated and supportive public will go a long way in addressing this issue. Victims will also feel more comfortable to speak out if they know that the public will side and stand with them.
Right now, many victims are afraid to speak out because of fear of being misunderstood or fear of being accused of inviting the perpetrators to prey on them.
2. Encourage victims to speak out
I do not need to over empasise this one, if victims do not feel comfortable to speak out, then we will never get anywhere. There is need to create more platforms which allows victims to speak and to protect the identities of victims where need be.
3. Investigate and punish the perpetrators severely.
All our efforts will be useless if at the end of the day, the perpetrators walk away scot free. It is also necessary to investigate and gather enough evidence so that justice prevail. Some of the methods employed by Kiki Modi and the BBC team when filming the documentary can be used here.
4. Invest in self defense
In SHEQ, if engineering and administrative controls fail to yield the required results, PPE (personal protective equipment) is employed.
Likewise, as our last line of defense, there is need to train our ladies in self defense so that they can protect themselves when caught off-guard (The documentary showed snippets of this art being used in Ghana).
As they say, prevention is better than cure and as much as possible, sexual predators should not be allowed to get their way.
No comments:
Post a Comment