During these 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence we examine at the role alcohol plays in instances of violence against women.
Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2017/12/09/how-alcohol-plays-a-role-in-gender-based-violence-and-what-must-happen-now_a_23301189/
A crying woman sitting amidst the clutter of used tissues – Copyspace
How many times do you hear about alcohol playing a role in a Gender-Based Violence (GBV)? In our view, far too many times not to have a frank discussion about it.
We’ve recently witnessed gender-based violence incidents involving high profile individuals. Remember the incident involving former Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mduduzi Manana, who was seen on video assaulting a woman with his entourage. The woman, we now know, is Mandisa Duma. She and her friend got into a confrontation with Manana and a group of his friends after he says she swore at him and called him ‘gay’. He clearly didn’t take kindly to that and responded by slapping her.
We then saw the Minister of Police, Fikile Mbalula responding to the charges that were laid against Manana. For the first time since the incident, we first heard the Minister emphasise the influence of alcohol in that incident. “A group of men in a place of alcohol, joined to exchange masculine punches with a lady after legal hours of alcohol consumption,” said Mbalula.
Mbalula added: “The case of the deputy minister is very disappointing because we expect individuals like him to act as an ambassador, the law, however, must take its course… Manana will not be treated with special kid gloves.”
He wasn’t treated with kid gloves but he did only get a slap on the wrist when Magistrate Ramsamy Reddy sentenced Manana to either a year’s imprisonment or an R100,000 fine, along with 500 hours of community service.
So what are the facts around the role that alcohol plays in GBV?
People under the influence of alcohol tend to be more aggressive to partners
A World Health Organisation (WHO) study found that 65% of women in South Africa had experienced spousal abuse. It also showed that their partners always or sometimes used alcohol before the assault.
“Incidents of women being abused by their partners do happen. If one is under the influence of alcohol, they are prone to be more aggressive towards their partners. Because of alcohol, their reality at that time it ends up in them being physically and sometimes sexually abusive,” Said Anele Siswana, a clinical psychologist.
“One of the things that need to be done is psycho-education, particularly around educating men and young boys to be more sensitive towards women and girl children. Promoting education around ways in which we can teach our young boys well-rounded ways of behaving so that physical violence and other forms of abuse are not an alternative form of solving a problem,” Siswana explained.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Edmonton and Area Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Network.