Battered Husbands

There is a debate going on about husband battering in some parts of the country. So I go home on sunday only to find the whole household discussing the issue. It turns out that my day had commented extensively on this debate on the sunday nation. Being an expert in African religious studies, his opinion mattered. It was an entertaining afternoon with everyone giving their take on the issue...including Isaak Mwak...yes him! my brother oh, he has never been one to comment on current events or other. My opinion is that, all the lies we have been feeding ourselves about who is the leader and who is the follower are finally catching up with us. Our tribe was founded by 2 parents and 9 daughters. They owned the land and the clans. They got men to marry and invited them into their land only for this men to take away their land and force out their own daughters. Such that today it is the girls who move out of their homes to the mans home. Ridiculous! This is just one of the many falsehoods that we have come to base our culture on. Back to the business of husband battering….What?1 Haha. Many say that this has been caused by an increase in power for the women. What they forget is that ‘violence is not a sign of power’ nor is ‘the absence of violence a show of inexistence of power’. Also you cannot rise into power if the power was already yours. It’s a question of becoming aware of previously ignored but existing power. Earlier I had written on ‘equality of education’ it has become relevant now more than ever. Simply because you perceive a woman to be weak does not mean that they are however this should not be a debate on who is strong or not. It should however act as a reminder that the girl child is efficiently trained to handle herself well and handle the great challenges of a home while we, the parents and teachers leave the boy to his own means. This people (men) have no idea what is expected of them, what it takes to eat, stay clean, make a living it’s a pity really when a person is not capable of keeping himself clean. Simply because women in the past (recent past because women were warriors since time immemorial…do your research!) have not been violent does not mean they had no power in the homes. But men, husbands are continuously neglecting their duties in the home, victimizing their wives while at the same time expecting to be accorded kingly treatment and obedience…think again. Women are excellent disciplinarians; they beat their children under the principle of ‘spare the rod spoil the child’. Now the men need some discipline and who better than…the woman.