CIVIC EDUCATION AND LAW ENFORCEMENT KEY TO THE FIGHT AGAINST SEXUAL HARRASMMENT AND GENDER INEQUALITY

By EUNICE CHIPANGULA

Efforts by countries like Malawi to put in place legal provisions against sexual harassment will not be in themselves a means to an end of such acts. The law itself will not end such acts but its popularisation, sensitization and enforcement. The law’s enforcement will just act as a fallback position for cases. People in Malawi need to know what sexual harassment is and this can be achieved through mounting massive civic education, with the youth being the targets. Attention needs to be made on the young ones on educating them on gender equality issues and what the law says so that they begin to see each other as equals and not sexual objects and later on begin to live the law as part of their new culture. Decision makers also need to be targeted if we are to inculcate in them that the issues they understand as being normal regarding men and women were socially constructed but need to be changed. It is in this context that a recommendation to introduce legal provisions in Malawi in the Gender Equality Act which is in the pipeline to define sexual harassment as a gender problem and criminally prohibit it has been applauded by women in Malawi.
One of the gender activists, Bertha Sefu says she is very happy with the recommendation since she believes it will bring sanity in the workplace and the society in general if there is proper enforcement.
“The proposal is welcome. However, putting in place mechanisms or legal provisions is one thing but enforcing it is another. If there is proper enforcement women would be much happier since if it is not there, it will do more harm than good to complainants socially, emotionally and psychologically”, Sefu said.
The Malawi society has been heavily affected with sexual harassment especially in the workplace which is somehow aggravated by culture and tradition, rendering it to be viewed as a normal or traditional thing not as a crime.
“I believe this law will bring sanity in the Malawi society if all the players dealing with enforcement understand the issue of sexual harassment and its effects on individuals and their future. This will in the end render the law effective and restore the dignity of women. If enforcement cannot be done properly then it will be equally as the same not to have the laws in place”, Sefu observed.
The enactment will therefore just be a just a step into the right direction. However, proper action through implementation and popularizing the law needs to follow.
Pastor Constance Nsapato of the Oasis of the Lord Church said women deserves to be treated with dignity if the nation is to prove that it is indeed God fearing. She however said laws were made for people because of sin and it is very important that efforts be undertaken for people get the message of the law the same way the message of salvation is put across. “The Church is one of the biggest players in these efforts because most people respect their churches. Talking to them about the law and applying issues of the badness of sexual harassment together with biblical principles will greatly help in changing our society”, she observed.
One may ask why this development being mostly applauded by women. Sexual harassment which falls within the realms of sexual discrimination as a manifestation of an imbalance in power relations and likely to occur in the workplace as well as on other fiduciary relation raises gender questions since it is mostly women who are subjected to it due to power imbalances between men and women.
There is a further proposal to allow civil claims on sexual harassment cases; to oblige employers of more than five people to develop mechanisms for dealing with sexual harassment and regulate compliance mechanisms on sexual harassment. The workplace has seen most of the violations when it comes to issues of promotions, access to resources and women enjoying rights which are enjoyed by men of the same job. This has greatly affected their development over the years and participation in decisions for the country.
The Gender related Law Reform Commission says research has established that the Malawi society still violates the dignity of women on the basis of their sex, marital status or gender in a number of forms.
“Despite the Malawi Constitution providing that the dignity of all persons shall be inviolable; there is serious violation of dignity in the country with a lot of acts that negatively affect the worthiness of a woman,” it observed.
The Commission said that the violations are in relation to sexual harassment, domestic violence, deprivation of property, censorship and classification entertainment and women in political dances.
“Dignity being a crosscutting issue, the negative acts affect women’s participation in development, lowers their self esteem to make informed decisions about their lives and in the end their well being is compromised,” the Commission said.
It is therefore important to inculcate a change of traditional or cultural views that negatively affect women. When carrying out such efforts, the media being one of the main language forming institutions that carries and perpetuates issues of gender inequality in our society needs to be sensitized too since findings have not spared the media as it has been found that it is grossly violating women’s dignity through its products.
“Certain programmes and songs aired on radios and television are degrading to women. The Communications Act which currently highlights the general obligation of broadcasters not to broadcast any material that is indecent, obscene or offensive to public morals needs to be reviewed for it to be specific in addressing negative portrayals of women. In addition, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) should enforce the regulations of the Communications Act to ensure that broadcast products affirm women, men and children rather than violating their dignity,” the Commission noted.
In relation to the print media, we count on the recently resurrected Media Council of Malawi that it will be firm in ensuring that newspapers abide by their professional ethics especially by desisting from publishing cartoons that depict women and ascribe them to activities that portray them as immoral objects for sexual pleasure.
It is however sad that despite the Censorship and Control of Entertainment Act being reviewed in 2001, it remains unenacted. This can act as a setback. In support of the Commissions observation on that its lack of enactment is retrogressive, government should look into its enactment and the incorporation into the Gender Equality Act a specific legal provision that will enshrine the protection of all persons dignity in the print media, prohibition of gender stereotyping and criminal deterrent and not punitive measures of violation of dignity in the print media. Massive civic education of gender issues, understanding of such issues and enforcement of genderrelated laws by all players will in the end ensure that people begin to live the law and in turn it will become part and parcel of their new culture