[Egemtraining] Summary of the week's discussions

[research]

Dear all

I am trusting that we have all received the opinion from Doo, our expert on the topic for this week. I havent received any comments though from anyone. Do we all share her opinion on the issues we raised thorughout the week? I have tried to summarise the major points that emerged thorughout the week. Note that these are not cast in stone and we are all free to add, modify, correct and clarify where necessary. 


Summary for the week's discussions
 

I am sure we all agree that this has been a very interesting week! All the contributions made have been very challenging, raising a lot of issues that make coverage of culture and human rights, especially from a Human Rights approach very challenging. One thing which I think has emerged from all the contributions is that there are many angles from which we can approach issues of culture and gender violence. I will try in this summary to outline some of the major angles that emerged from the discussions. Please feel free to suggest some that may have slipped from my attention, since we want to learn as much as we can from this process, so we can effectively cover and communicate such issues. Some of these include:

 

Some lessons we could pick from this: 

 

1)      Culture and custom are dynamic and not static and as journalists and communicators we need to make our societies aware of this fact so that we begin to challenge negative cultural practices and past practices that discriminate or infringe on others' rights and liberties. 

2)      Its important to understand the foundations of culture and custom on one hand and principles of human rights on the other, in any given society, to be able understand the interplay between the two, especially when there seems to be a clash. For instance, it was pointed out in some contributions that most southern African cultures and customs are founded on the concept of ubuntu, which in itself espouses equality and reciprocation of respect and treating each other humanly. However, we need to go beyond this level to interrogate who defines cultures in any given context. This will bring us to a better understanding of the gender dynamics, where women and children are treated as the "other" and marginalized in the process.

3)      Taking up from point 2, the understanding of the power dynamics in the definition and redefinition of culture in a given society is critical in explaining why some sectors of society would want to hold on to aspects of culture that do not seem to service the interest of the society. This is particularly important, I think, because we will not blindly perpetuate some cultural practices that are "imposed on some sections of society in their "frozen state" (as Doo put it!). We begin to challenge these and help our societies review themselves. For instance in most patriarchal societies in the region, "our" is not necessarily that inclusive. It is manipulated by some to serve their own interests. 

4)       Need to consistently put issues of culture, custom and human rights on the national agenda, as journalists/communicators, and not take a reactionary approach. This will make societies constantly take stock of its practices and begin to challenge those aspects that would have outlived their purposes.

5)       Need to understand and be informed about national, regional and international instruments and provisions that are available to protect people's rights and freedoms. This will help us hold the leaders accountable. For instance, in our case study King Mswati signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development and committed through these to promote women and children's rights. This kind of knowledge can also help us sensitise our societies to some of the commitments that our leaders make at their Summits and soon forget about it. In this case it would also be important for us to pursue the angle, why leaders sign some regional and international instruments and not others. For example, Swaziland is the only country in SADC that has NOT ratified the Convention on The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which is a binding instrument, unlike the SADC Declaration for instance.  

6)      Another interesting angle which I thought came out is the whole issue of laws, legal reforms and constitutional provisions to ensure the enjoyment of individual inalienable rights. There have been some initiatives in some countries in the region to reform laws and amend constitutions to align them with principles of gender equality and human rights. It would be important for us to know the initiatives in our respective countries and across the region, to be able to draw comparisons and challenge our leaders and laws makers.

7)      There is need to understand why people act and react in the way they do, especially where gender dynamics are at play. For instance, why do women in Swaziland send their daughters to the reed dance? This is important to understand so as to avoid apportioning blame and being judgemental. Once we begin to unpack such issues, we also begin to probe and understand the socialization processes that tend to on pass some cultural practices from one generation to the next. 

8)       The issue of seeking to strike a balance also came out strongly in some contributions, where the argument was that we need not approach culture and custom as something independent of human rights and vice versa, but to seek the interface between the two and try and locate the root of discord. This may well reveal that certain groups in society are manipulating culture and custom for their own end, and not that there necessarily is discord between culture and human rights principles.

9)         

 

Some resources for journalists:

 

1) The Gender Links website (www.genderlinks.org.za) information section has a summary of laws and initiatives on the prevention and combating of gender violence in the 14 SADC countries and this is a useful resource for writers/journalists/communicators. Feel free to indicate other recent developments and initiatives in this area so the chart can be updated.

 

2) The Women in Law in Southern Africa (WLSA) Research Trust has done a lot of research in the areas of law, custom and cultural practices in the context of human rights and gender equality, in the southern Africa region. You can contact them at The Regional Office, 16 Lawson Avenue Milton Park, P.O Box UA171, Union Avenue HARARE Zimbabwe Tel/Fax: 263-4-793401 E-mail: wlsa at samara.co.zw and website www.wlsa.co.zw

 

 

NB. Please note that the above are just my own observations and you are welcome to comment, add, subtract and enhance on these. If you are aware of any other organizations, bibliographic references, contact people etc, that you would want to share with the group, please feel free to share and these will be added to the list of resources. 

 

Once more thank you very much to all for your very interesting contributions throughout the week. Meet you again online on Monday 25 as we fosuc on issues of HIV/AIDS especially marital rape and access to anti-retroviral drugs by survivors of rape!!

 

 

Also remember that Monday 25 is the first of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. Let me remind you all that we are running a huge campaign and you can visit our website (www.genderlinks.org.za) and sign the pledge, the memorial board, and get to access a lot more information, including a calendar of events to give you an insight into what is happening during the 16 Days and related initiatives. 

 

Have a restful and blessed weekend!!!



 Alice Kwaramba
Senior Researcher
Gender Links
1 Ernest Oppenheimer Street
Lower Ground Floor
Lakeside Place
Bruma, 2198
Johannesburg
South Africa
Tel: +27 11 622 2877/7796
Fax: +27 11 622 4732
Email: alice at genderlinks.org.za
          research at genderlinks.org.za
URL: www.genderlinks.org.za
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