Women with disabilities at double risk of GBV

22 Jan, 2023 - 00:01 0 Views
Women with disabilities at double risk of GBV

The Sunday News

Fairness Moyana in Hwange

SIXTEEN-year-old Buumi* tries to scream for help as she fights to escape her attacker who has pinned her to the ground covering her mouth with one hand. He breathes threats of death and she cows into submission as she recognises the husky voice as belonging to her uncle.

Her world shuts down in the dead of the night as she recedes into silence while her uncle violates her as he has done over the years. Buumi is not your typical teenager, she suffers from an undiagnosed mental illness.

 Mental illness, also called mental health disorders, refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behaviour. Examples include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviours.

 Buumi’s attempts to report her abuse to her mother were in vain as the matter was initially not taken seriously probably because everyone around her labelled her crazy and delusional. When it soon became apparent that her claims were founded after she contracted a sexually transmitted illness (STI), family members sought to hide the atrocity and soon closed ranks to protect their own – the perpetrator, a common practice in African families.

Her mother’s brave stance to report the matter to the Village Head came at a heavy price as she was alienated by most family members who accused her of being on a crusade to disgrace the clan. Buumi’s illness is a closely guarded secret fomented by claims of witchcraft. The matter would die a premature death as the family managed to buy the traditional leader’s silence while gagging Buumi’s mother with threats.   

 Buumi’s heartbreaking story is an example of many similar testimonies of women and girls with disabilities in Zimbabwe.  

 Society in general continues to adopt negative attitudes towards Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) further exacerbating their plight. This ironically becomes more prominent and evident when violence against women and girls with disabilities is addressed; responses are usually shaped by stigma, blaming the survivor for the violence and fearing the repercussions of social disgrace.

 Studies confirm that women and girls with disabilities are the group most vulnerable to violence compared to their male counterparts as well as with girls and women without disabilities. It has been noted that while disability may lead to increased violence, violence in turn may cause a new disability or may aggravate an existing disability and increase the severity of one’s vulnerability. It is also widely acknowledged that women with disabilities are at a heightened risk of sexual violence and twice as likely to experience domestic violence.

 PWDs who are estimated to account for 10 percent of Zimbabwe’s national population according to the ZimStat 2022 census, remain a forgotten group often excluded across all levels of society. While there are no official records of the total number and percentage of women with disabilities, the Inter-Censal Survey by ZimStat states that the proportion of male to females with disabilities was 56 and 44 percent respectively. 

 According to a 2022 survey conducted by the Afrobarometer, one reason that GBV was considered a critical issue was its frequency with 52 percent of respondents saying violence against women and girls is “somewhat common” (35 percent) or “very common” (17 percent) in their community. While a majority (61 percent) of Zimbabweans say domestic violence is a criminal matter that requires the involvement of law enforcement, 37 percent see it as a private matter that needs to be handled and resolved within the family.

 Disability activists argue that little attention has been given to women with disabilities with 80 percent of these living in rural areas unable to meet their own needs and heavily dependent on family and friends. Few studies devoted to disability and gender-based violence have further cast a spotlight on the levels of vulnerability of women and girls with disabilities to various forms of violence.

 “It’s important to note that women and girls with most types of disability experience different levels of vulnerability and marginalisation due to a range of complex factors related to the composition of society, the prevailing culture, the structure of service delivery and discrimination on the basis of disability, violence and gender. You’ll find that their vulnerability is further heightened by their limited awareness, low educational attainment, lack of resources and dependence on others, increasing the likelihood of experiencing higher levels and more severe forms of violence,” said disability activist and vice secretary of the National Council of Disabled Persons of Zimbabwe, Ms Octavia Phiri.

 She said as was in the case of Buumi, there was an increasing proportion of women and girls with disabilities experiencing various forms of psychological, social, physical and sexual violence with these violations often occurring under the authority of a guardian.

 Significant obstacles and challenges remain in place, primarily in the form of the weak protection system for women and girls with disabilities while some of the legislation such as the Disabled Persons Act is outdated and needs revision to cater for the changing landscape. Though there is a Disability Policy, its implementation falls short of enforcement critically required to ensure PWDs’ access to justice which is limited service delivery to survivors of violence with failure to understand and respond to the special needs of women with disabilities survivors of violence compounding the problem. The exclusion in the national development discourse of this vulnerable group, usually disregarded even at the level of sectoral planning and overall policy formulation.  

When Sibongile* who has a physical disability brought on by polio was assaulted by her live-in boyfriend, she sought the protection of the police. However, the very institution that was supposed to protect her let her down as she faced various obstacles when she went to make a report.  

“My boyfriend assaulted me severely following a misunderstanding over money and when I told him I was going to report the matter to the police, he boldly told me that he had friends within the police force. I later realised that he indeed was well connected and I hesitated to make a report. Even when I finally did after being convinced by a friend I had confided in as I didn’t have access to information but still my case dragged on for weeks before it finally got to the courts,” she said.  

 Unable to endure the pain of the court process that had dragged on for months which was beginning to have economic and psychological effects on her, the 27-year-old mother of one would soon resign to fate as she withdrew her quest for justice. The state’s case would soon crumble as the prosecution could not successfully get a conviction without the evidence from the complainant forcing it to suspend the case opting to advise the accused that the trial would proceed by way of summons.

 Sibongile’s ordeal demonstrated an apparent lack of ability on the part of the survivors of violence to access crucial information, programs and services from the different agencies and service providers in relation to prevention of violence, protection, recovery and others.

 Federation of Organisations of Disabled Persons of Zimbabwe (FODPZ) Disability Inclusion Specialist, Ms Elisa Ravengai said disability heightened the risk of gender based violence.

 She added that the state of women was worsened by the pandemic which saw some engaging in transactional sex which further exposed them to abuse. 

 Both Buumi and Sibongile faced circumstances that denied them justice from their tormentors partly due to the lack of safe houses in Matabeleland North province. They were forced to stay with the perpetrators due to livelihood dependency which negatively contributed to their decision to suffer in silence. Safe houses, in the context of GBV, are homes that provide an alternative shelter to a survivor of violence. The intended purpose of a safe house is to keep the victim or survivor from any further potential harm from the perpetrator with an aim of supporting her or him in dealing with the traumatic experience as well as preparation for the legal process.

 Sadly, the province which boasts of seven districts with a combined population of over a million people has only one such safe haven established by Musasa Project in Nkayi. This development has reportedly dealt a big blow to ending GBV as it is seen as a major contributor to the low or underreporting of cases.  Therefore, community and family constraints make it very difficult for women to report and disclose the violent incident, especially in relation to physical and sexual violence as was the case of Buumi and Sibongile.

 Ms Ravengai who is also a member of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) said there was need for effective and inclusive mainstreaming of gender based violence across all sectors.

 *Names changed to protect identities of survivors.

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