Perk up Ethiopian womanhood!

Scene one: Any street in a developed nation. Man approaches woman. Man makes indecent pass. Woman indignant slaps man. Woman then walks off unharmed. Pedestrians scowl or rebuke man.
Scene two: Any street in Ethiopia. Man approaches woman. Makes indecent pass and even gropes her. Mortified, woman runs away. Man laughs. Other pedestrians join in laughter.
These two contrasting displays of reaction are telling nuggets of the degree to which various societies view sexual harassment. Why was the first woman unafraid to defend herself while the Ethiopian woman does not dare to strike her abuser? Where is your pride, dear sisters? As in so many other situations, numerous studies have shown that sexual harassment prevails in the least prosperous nations. It is also true that such crimes are found in the less advantaged areas of the developed nations.
There is a direct corollary between educational level- therefore incomes and the proliferation of sexual misconduct. What constitutes a crime against humanity if it isn’t also the atrocious crime of rape? Perhaps it is time that the statutes were revised to include all forced, coerced and otherwise unwarranted sexual attacks as crimes against humanity.
Rape has been a fact of life in Ethiopia and it is only in recent years that the subject is receiving public and government attention. For untold centuries, the atrocities of rape and paedophilia have been taboo subjects, forever kept hidden in the dark recesses of the perpetrators sick mind, in the bitter un-washable violation of the victim and the shame of silently suffering parents and kin. Ethiopian culture, especially in the remote areas, has even shrouded the crime by inventing innocent sounding terms and mainstreaming the practice. In due course, misconceptions about proper sexual conduct have incorporated themselves into popular culture and are extolled by singers, playwrights and the multitude of minstrel musicians whose vulgar lyrics promote indecent sexual activity.
Rape does not discriminate neither on the type of offender nor on the choice of victim. All sections of society are affected as recently published reports of an M.P. whose parliamentary immunity was revoked after allegations of rape indicates. It is only fitting that the parliament took the measure it did regardless of the charges being unproven as yet.
The issue of rape is inherently also linked with the low standard of human rights generally and not only at national level, but in the family, at the work place and in school. Culture plays a huge role in the mistreatment of women. The Ethiopian male is not the most gallant and gentlemanly of creatures, steeped as he is in the belief that women are subservient. In fact, one of the words for ‘woman’ in Amharic and Tigrigna is “Enist” which means small or minor. Not an enlightened term to say the least!
Women must stop considering themselves as passive objects of primitive lust over which they have no control. Families, especially mothers, should tell their daughters to stand up for themselves and prevent possible sexual attacks. This realigning of the traditional role of men and women in the society will over time lead to a reduction in sexual harassment. What goes on in offices, storerooms, nooks and crannies, dark corners, and in homes is not all consensual sex as rape is a crime of many guises.
It is not always the fear of brute force that forces a woman to ‘comply’. The rape may be silent, as it is fuelled by the woman’s fear of losing a job, failing an exam or even divorce worries. These ‘male weapons’ allow the man to have his way.
Men of goodwill have a duty to detect and prevent sexual harassment, advise their errant colleagues to control their urges and in short, ensure that Ethiopian womanhood is spared this crime against humanity. The associations of professional women which are struggling to promote women’s rights and provide a moral argument against rape, child molestation, and spousal sexual assault, need to become more proactive.
A good start could be to lobby at the highest levels for special anti-sexual assault police units to be set up. These would then monitor types, levels and prevalence of sex crimes in their locality and bring the offenders to justice.
A nation wide sexual conduct awareness program needs to be included in the school curricula in order to instil the youth with the moral integrity they sorely require. The justice system has a tremendously important role – a role it needs to work on - as it has a poor record of ridiculously lenient sentences doled out to rapists, giving the impression that the system is not doing justice to the gravity of the crime.
We cannot sit back and wait until the situation assumes the horrific proportions evidenced in countries such as South Africa, where a woman is raped every 6 seconds.