Officiating the launch of this report, Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Minister, Senator Monica Mutsvangwa Mutsvangwa commended the collaborative work enunciated through the focus on issues often overlooked but crucial for achieving gender equality and addressing gender-based violence.
I am greatly impressed by this collaborative work and the desire to delve into a study on the issues that are hardly considered in everyday life. Yet they are key hardly considered in everyday life .Yet they are key determinant factors for achieving Gender Equality and addressing Based Violence, It is encouraging that we are now developing a strong appetite for scientific ,data driven analyses of social phenomenon,” she said.
She emphasized the importance of data-driven research in promoting gender equality, the protection of girls and women and building empathy among me. Minister Mutsvangwa also said research is crucial for understanding the family unit’s role in society and creating stronger, more resilient families.
“This approach is key to establishing a consensus around the rights of women. The need to promote equality and protection of women and girls from abuse.This approach also contributes to building empathy from the men who often observe women taking up all the burden of care work by themselves.”
She added that the approach will facilitate social transformation based on an understanding of the central and delicate nature of the family unit as a site for the production and reproduction of our societies. Our responses must therefore remain alive to this reality in order to create stronger and more resilient families for the betterment of society ,and the nation at large.
The report also serves as generated evidence on how well gender equality policies can be reviewed as well as ending GBV including IPV in communities. The report however noted that although there is a care-giving gap, men believe that there are some benefits related to sharing care work with female counterparts.
The report further noted that the attitudes towards unpaid care work among men are influenced by societal norms, and gender stereotypes embedded in tradition, culture, and religious beliefs. Thus, the primary cause of the caregiving gap is attributed to these gender and societal norms, which significantly shape individuals during their early stages of development.
Both women and men recognize that even if men desire to support their female counterparts with care work, community and social relations act as common barriers, inhibiting men from participating in unpaid care work. 71.1% of women and 64.5% of men share the belief that gender and societal norms contribute to this caregiving gap.
Additionally, the report states that socialization plays an essential role in perpetuating this gap. The consistent similarity in care giving ratios between men and women across different age groups indicates that generations have learned from one another.
It was also noted in the report that the care gap exacerbates violence within the home. Gender-based violence (GBV) and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) exhibit higher prevalence rates in rural areas compared to urban areas: specifically, 51.6% of women and 40.2% of men in rural regions have experienced GBV/IPV related to care work. In urban areas, 34.0% of women and 25.6% of men have also been affected by GBV/IPV.
Meanwhile, UNAIDS Representative Jeremiah Manyika bemoaned the poor health seeking behavior by men and proposed for targeted intervention for men.
“Men are consistently falling behind in achieving the 95-95-95 targets compared to women. Only 83% of men living with HIV know their status ,72% are on treatment and 67% are virally suppressed. This gap highlights the urgent need for targeted interventions to better engage men in HIV testing,treatment and care services,” said Manyika.
He added that Men and boys were less likely to test for HIV and they access treatment later than women.
