Countless reports of gender-based violence – often ending in fatalities – have left many observers angry and confused. But what are we missing? Why suddenly are relationships, meant to be loving and caring, turning into death sentences?
Dr. Okumba Miruka has dared to infer that marriage is a risk factor for women (Nation -January 30, 2024). The absurdity of this inference will be the fear of getting married. Sadly, society will pay heavily when that disposition takes root.
It seems we are missing something at the root of the gender-based violence in which women are the victims. In 2024, the International Journal for Equity in Health published a shocking study. One of the findings was that physical violence was negatively associated with not using any contraceptive method among married women in Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa countries.
Negative association refers to a relationship between two variables where an increase in one is associated with a decrease in the other. In this case it would mean that an increase in the number of women reported as not using contraception was associated with a decrease in the number of women reporting intimate partner violence.
This finding sounds believable. Any married man knows that the wife is irritable in the first three months of pregnancy. Husbands self-restrain by choosing what they say and how they say it so they may not provoke an unnecessary brawl. Doctors say that the naturally released hormone progesterone meant to sustain pregnancy is responsible for these changes in moods and the irritability. Yet, synthetic progesterone is widely used in Kenya for hormonal contraception, fertility treatment and managing certain gynecological conditions. Could it be that our sisters and daughters are inadvertently predisposing themselves for quarrels and fights that might descend into violence? There is a lot we do not yet know.
Men cannot be exonerated though. The self-restraint in the face of provocation is a sign of maturity or even being man enough not to be violent. But the boy child was left behind when the girl child started on the path to empowerment. The boy child was not well prepared to relate with the empowered woman. The empowered woman is independent and has the freedom to access contraception. She does not have to consult the man in her life. It is her body, her choice. The sooner men are woken up to this reality the better. They would do well to skill themselves in knowing where the triggers for violence lie at any given moment. They would benefit from knowing whether the conflict at stake is sparked or aggravated by the current disposition of the man or the woman.
It would be advisable that for every reported case of gender-based violence, a note is made on whether the woman involved is on contraception. This might necessitate amending Police Form 3A or having the note made at the hospital where the victim first presents. Gathering data such as this would then help the government ascertain and rule out the possibility that hormonal contraception could be a risk factor in intimate partner violence.
Thank you for this insightful piece. Indeed the correlation between these drugs and the violence factor has to be properly investigated. Such investigation will, hopefully help to shape both the medical side and the law.
Further, there is a necessity to teach both boys and girls about the importance of family and shared responsibilities, underpinned by the basic principles and values of Ubuntu.
This is insightful and should be considered given the reality of how contraceptives affect even the kind of partner one chooses to be with.
It’s not just about the prevention of pregnancy but how it affects the body as a whole and the people around us.
Indeed
Thanks Sabelo for your perspective
Is the writer saying that women who use contraceptives are less disposed to violence from their partners?
1. Then countries like US and Europe wouldn’t be having as much GBV as is reported.
2. Contraceptives make women more irritable not less. They have serious side effects, so how is that supposed to make women happier or less irritable?
3. Even if the study was found to be true, are we asking women to go on contraceptives so as to avoid being victims? So basically the same argument that women should protect themselves from rapists instead of holding rapists accountable?
4. The people who should tell us why they are violent and how they instead to fix it are men. We are not the criminals so it’s not our job to fix it.
Interesting perspective