Gender lobby launches forum for abused males

Gender activists have launched an interactive website to help stem the stigma faced by men who are victims of gender based violence but shy away from sharing their experiences.

Mr Nderitu Njoka of the Maendeleo Ya Wanaume Organisation said the website, www.globalgenderempowermentnetwork.org would become a handy forum in reporting and sharing gender based violence especially by men who continue to suffer in silence.

“The site will offer forums for discussion, advice and will go along way in empowering and addressing the plight of abused males,” he said.

He said approximately 10,000 men are victims of gender abuse but suffer in silence since there are no forums to vent their frustrations.

“Most organisations concentrate on addressing the plight of the girl child and women but forget that all problems start with the men,” he told a press conference at a Nairobi hotel.

UNADDRESSED MALE CHALLENGES
Mr Nderitu said the capture of more than 100 schoolgirls still held hostage at an unknown location in Nigeria was a manifestation of unaddressed male challenges which is “the cancer of  gnawing away at society.”

“We find it crude that an illegal group has held 200 girls hostage in a forest somewhere…this  is not political anymore  but a form of  gender based violence being engineered by men,” he said.

He said it was unfortunate that it was the men who were perpetrating “this evil” against young children who need their care and security.

Mr Nderitu said the cure lay in addressing the socio-economic challenges that face the male gender to end such kinds of strife as witnessed in Nigeria.

“It is an absurdity that all kind of violence witnessed globally start with the men but the reality is that more than a million organisation concentrate on addressing challenges of the girl child, if men are empowered we would not witness such kinds of problems,” he said.

The self-declared president of men and the Maendeleo Ya Wanaume chairperson claimed there has been a rise in homicidal deaths targeting men in their families.

“Men are under risk from their own wives and we call on the governments to declare this kind of  gender based abuse  a global disaster,” he said.

He said that if governments addressed the challenges facing men first “other things including world peace would be achieved faster.”

“All problems begin with men, if they are empowered we will achieve the prosperity we yearn,” he said.

Mr Nderitu distributed copies of letters the organisation has written to the Nigerian president Mr Goodluck Jonathan, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and the UN Security Council calling on the leaders to join hands to end the plight of the 199 girls held hostage by the rebels.

The activist also called for special prayers and fasting so that the children may be released by the captors.

He was speaking at the launch of www.globalgenderempowermentnetwork.org, an online platform addressing the plight of abused men.