GBV: Need To Change Societal Attitude

Nigerians’ negative attitude towards Gender-Based Violence (GBV) must change in order to drastically reduced if not eliminate completely all its forms from our society.
GBV has been a serious issue in our society, yet under reported due to negative societal attitude towards it.
This is why Education as a Vaccine (EVA), a non-profit organization founded in 2000 to improve the health and development of children and young people, organised a two-day programme for journalists, recently in Abuja, so they brainstormed on the best way to report issues bordering on GBV.
It is also a youth-led organization that works in partnership with children and young people to advance their rights to health and protect them from all forms of violence in the most vulnerable and marginalized communities.
According to EVA, “Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is pervasive in many communities in Nigeria and data shows women are the most affected and more likely to experience physical violence and sexual violence including intimate partner violence which in many cases, survivors suffer a lot of victimization and stigmatization due to the insensitivity of service providers, attitudes of community members and hostile legal system and law enforcers.”
According to an Executive Director of EVA, Mrs Bukky Williams, “The media plays an essential role in bringing cases of GBV to light so that authorities can take action, prevent further abuses and tell these stories in ways that are empowering enough to help break the culture of silence. Journalists and other media professionals play a critical role in not only raising awareness of SGBV (Sexual GBV) but also in countering myths and negative gender norms that may persist on the issue.
“The society needs to change its negative attitude towards the issues of GBV as it has been a serious issue in our society, yet under- reported this is why EVA saw the need to address this issue from all sectors starting with the fourth estate of the realm, so that victims are placed at the centre and perpetrators take the blame. What we are doing is to support reporters to report adequately so as to contribute to positive change on this issue.”
Williams stated that reporting stories and issues of SGBV can be very sensitive as the safety and privacy of the survivors need to be considered, when journalists tell these stories carelessly, or without proper training, they can leave survivors feeling or exposed to stigma and retaliation.
She stressed that EVA has engaged in consultations with some of the Nigerian Union of Journalists’ Executives and a consensus on the need to have a guideline for journalists who report GBV in Nigeria as is obtainable in some countries, adding that the way media houses report can either elevate or make the issue worse.
Williams added that EVA has facilitated the drafting of a GBV guideline through a working group of media consultants and journalists, adding that the guidelines are intended to ensure that all actors who play a role in facilitating or engaging in media reporting on GBV are aware of and able to prioritize the ethical, human rights and safety considerations that preserve the safety, confidentiality and dignity of survivors, their families, their communities, and those who are trying to help them.
In the light of this, EVA invited journalists across the country to a wider consultation to make inputs into and validate the draft on media GBV guidelines.
The Executive Director added that the validation meeting has been very heartening to see people’s passion and interest in making sure that the victims’ survival is placed at centre while doing reportage around GBV.
Williams called on journalists, participants, CSOs and other critical stakeholders to internalize the media guideline on GBV reporting as well as sharing the knowledge gained so as to curb the issue of under-reporting.
She stressed on proper reportage of GBV, pointing out that there can’t be change if the negative narrative does not change in the media.
In her words “If we don’t see reports that centre on the survival and blamed the perpetrators, rather than spike up or does not put it in the context of why this is happening and what kind of change that needs to happen or not reporting what work is being done to change that.”
Williams appealed to participants to step the training down to their other counterparts, so as to continue to disseminate the best way of reporting GBV through the application of the Media guideline on GBV.
She remarked that the validation of the NUJ Media Guideline on GBV draft coincides with the 16 days of activism on the elimination of all forms of GBV against women and girls from the society, therefore describing it as timely and apt.
Also speaking, a representative of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Madam Blessing Duru, described the project as apt and timely looking at this period that the world is celebrating 16 Days of activism set aside to raise awareness on GBY issues and how solutions can be found in terms of providing access to justice for survival of any form of violence in Nigeria.
She commended the EVA initiative, describing the guideline as critical, saying that addressing GBV is a collective effort both from the side of state and non- state actors.
The CSOs representative while recognising the roles that the media play in terms of creating awareness, in terms of building momentum, in terms increasing accountability mechanism and holding perpetrators accountable added that state actors responsible to ensure safety for all in the society should also step up their games in order to eliminate GBV from the society.
“We commend them for the effort as the guideline is well detailed such that if put in practice will go a long way in making great impact.”
She urged participants to embrace it, relate with it, while maintaining that one must have passion and commitment to be able to do the work around GBV, knowing how tiring, and the emotional torture that is associated with GBV.
Duru emphasised that if there is no passion for doing the job one would not be able to give their best.
On his part, a member of NUJ and a participant, Abuja Chapter, Emmanuel Couson, urged media participants to do a step-down training in various communities and organisations so that other colleagues are aware of best practices to adopt in reporting GBV issues.
According to him, “Most importantly, we are looking at how to take this document to communities knowing that issues around GBV and Sexual GBV happen more at the community levels.
“There is also need to begin to step down the training for media persons at community levels, so that they can understand GBV first before understanding the media guideline on GBV, this way GBV issues will be addressed in Nigeria,” he added.
Participants at the workshop defined the following key words: Gender and Sex.
“Gender” refers to the social differences between males and females in any society. Although the words “sex” and  “gender” are often used interchangeably, the differences between these two terms must be well understood.
Gender: Refers to the social differences between males and females that are learned. Though deeply rooted in every culture, social differences are changeable over time, and have wide variations both within and between cultures. “Gender” determines the roles, responsibilities, opportunities, privileges, expectations, and limitations for males and for females in any culture.
Some examples of sex characteristics:
Women menstruate while men do not
Men have testicles while women do not
Women have developed breasts that are usually capable of lactating, while men have not.
“A focus on gender not only reveals information about women and men’s different experiences, it also sheds light on ingrained assumptions and stereotypes about men and women,  the values and qualities associated with each, and the ways in which power relationships  can change.”
Some people have criticized gender equality as a Western notion that is incompatible with more traditional or  conservative cultures. These types of arguments fall into what is generally referred to as “cultural relativism”  and is used to discredit the universality of human rights in general, and particularly with regards to women’s  rights.
Respecting local cultures is a core principle of humanitarian work. However, identifying and defining “the culture” of a particular group is not a straightforward task. Even within the same community, cultural beliefs and  interpretations may vary depending on an individual’s age, gender, socio-economic status and other characteristics. Furthermore, cultures are not static; they are continually being renewed and reshaped by a wide range of  factors, including conflict and other humanitarian crises.
Well-designed gender equality programmes will never be imposed upon a local culture; rather they will seek to  identify and support the grassroots movements that are already forming within any given community. As these  movements gain momentum and push for more equitable practices, some members of that community may  make adjustments in their lives that reflect these changes. Others may choose to continue living in accordance  with traditional practices and roles. The key to effective gender equality programming lies in creating an opportunity for individuals to pursue either approach—or, as is most likely, to combine elements of both—and to  recognize that opening up the possibility for some individuals to choose to live differently does not impose an  obligation on everyone to do the same.
“This is the most sensitive and seemingly navigable way to diffuse the tension between women’s rights and  cultural relativism — by seeing the struggles for women’s rights not as a way to save women from their cultures,  but rather as a means to increase their choices and opportunities, so that they can play greater roles in shaping their cultures and their lives.”
“Gender” is an English word, the meaning of which has changed over time. Twenty years ago, “gender” had the same definition as “sex.” The word does not translate easily into other languages. For  each language, we must find a way to describe the concept of gender in ways that can be understood.

By: Susan Serekara-Nwikhana