October is the month of violence against women awareness month. S. Dakota is holding its fifth Take Back the Night rally on October 10th. Here are the details.
Professor Ali Mazrui, a renowned African scholar has an interesting article here entitled Kenya: Battle of the Sexes - a Historical Paradox.
In this article - which is the first part of a two-part article - Prof. Mazrui explores the various theories explaining the underlying problems of gender-based power struggle.
Photo: Personal website of Prof. Mazrui
First, among humans, the senior partner in the creation of new life is the female -woman the mother. Second, the senior partner in the destruction of life is the male -man as the warrior. Third, it is the power of destruction that has given the male dominion over the female -man as the ruler. The argument here is that the origins of male dominance do not lie in economic but in military specialisation. Women till the land, the means of production. They control the womb, the means of reproduction. But they do not control the means of physical coercion -spear, the bow and arrow and, later, the gun.
Kamilat - victim of acid burning
The face of VAW - violence against women. It should and can be stopped with enough commitment. Helping one woman at a time is a start.
