Tanaka Mahanya
IT’S time to start holding men responsible for baby dumping too.
This was the message from Zimbabwe Gender Commission executive director, Virginia Muwanigwa, yesterday.
Currently, she said, the view is that women are the only ones to blame when a child is abandoned.
However, the process of abortion begins with the man abandoning the pregnant woman.
Muwanigwa said society needs to recognise the invisible power of socialisation, in which people do not see certain things due to the way they were brought up, and continue raising awareness among people on the rights of women, men, boys and girls.
However, Zimbabwe has done well in challenging power over women through the country’s constitution and the legislative framework, said Muwanigwa.
“It is only a man who can walk away from children, and when a woman tries to walk away, including when they abort or commit infanticide, we tend to easily forget about the one who started the process of abortion.
“In some cases, women abort because they have no choice, and the partner in the pregnancy is nowhere to be found and society allows the partner to walk away and dump the child.
“We usually know about dumping connected to women; it is women, as far as we know socially, who dump children.”
She said people need to continue raising awareness about the situation.
“We need to continue raising awareness among the people on the rights of women, men, boys and girls.”