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Verbum et Ecclesia
ISSN: (Online) 2074-7705, (Print) 1609-9982
Page 1 of 8 Original Research
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Author:
Kasebwe T. Kabongo1
Aliaon:
1Department of Religion
Studies, Faculty of Theology
and Religion, University of
Pretoria, Pretoria,
South Africa
Corresponding author:
Kasebwe Kabongo,
kablut@yahoo.fr
Dates:
Received: 27 Dec. 2020
Accepted: 01 Aug. 2021
Published: 08 Sept. 2021
How to cite this arcle:
Kabongo, K.T., 2021, ‘The
ght against gender-based
violence: A missional
nurturing of people of peace’,
Verbum et Ecclesia 42(1),
a2194. hps://doi.
org/10.4102/ve.v42i1.2194
Copyright:
© 2021. The Authors.
Licensee: AOSIS. This work
is licensed under the
Creave Commons
Aribuon License.
Introducon
Gender-based violence (GBV) is ‘experienced by one-third of women globally’ (Amusa, Bengesai
& Khan 2020:1). It is considered as a pandemic in South Africa. The National Development Plan
(NDP) of South Africa recognises that GBV ‘is unacceptably high with South Africa having the
highest rates of violence against girls and women in the world’ (Yamile 2020:2). The township of
Soshanguve, the place where the author lives in, seems to be a microcosm of the high prevalence
of GBV. Townships have a history of violence from the time of their inceptions. Their original
residents were migrant labourers who moved to urban areas in search of jobs. They camped
around cities and towns in informal settlements. At some point, violence was used to remove
them from these informal settlements around cities and towns to place them in townships as the
government implemented the ‘Groups Areas Act 1950, which forcibly removed people [of colour]
from areas which were declared white only’ (Weber & Bowers-Du Toit 2018:3). This foundation
of violence has spread in different directions, including against girls and women. The author is
part of a missional team, InnerCHANGE, which thought about designing a curriculum for its
teenagers and youth beneficiaries to empower them to constructively challenge the culture of
violence around them.
This research uses grounded theology as a methodology to share about InnerCHANGE teaching.
Grounded theology seeks to develop ‘a theology of experience and theologies from below’ (Stevens
2017:203). Such development happens from practicing what someone believes in. InnerCHANGE
wants to develop people of peace in matters of GBV in an emancipatory way. An emancipatory
approach puts ‘a major emphasis on empowerment’ (Swartz 2011:48–49). InnerCHANGE applied
the theology of experience by designing a curriculum that could empower teenagers and the youth
to fight against GBV as people of peace. The latter are those who commit to act non-violently in all
circumstances and to call out any acts of violence. This research identified perpetrators and
The fight against gender-based violence (GBV) requires the participation of as many society
stakeholders as possible, including the church. Gender-based violence has become a pandemic
in South Africa. The township of Soshanguve where InnerCHANGE, a missional team, serves
is just a microcosm of this alarming reality. This research uses the grounded theology
methodology to design a curriculum to empower teenagers and the youth to become people
of peace. These are people who commit to act non-violently in all circumstances and to call
out violence as a society destroyer. This study stresses that perpetrators and enablers of GBV
are the causes of the pandemic. The perpetrators are known to be mostly men. The enablers
are the situation of the normalisation of violence in local communities, a negative
understanding of power and a lack of participation from the church in fighting against GBV.
This study focuses on enablers for the development of people of peace. The aim for
InnerCHANGE was to participate in this fight against GBV in teaching teenagers and the
youth to see violence as abnormal, to understand power as a resource to serve others and to
actively participate in this fight against GBV through their everyday choices of acting non-
violently and calling out violent acts. The research concludes that GBV seems to be
intergenerational in our local community. And, it will take preventive measures such as the
education of teenagers and the youth to break such a normalised abuse and build peaceful
communities where violence will not be tolerated.
Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article is located in the field of
missiology. It is inspired by practical theology, sociology, psychology and journalism to design
a curriculum that intends to develop the youth and teenagers as people of peace.
Keywords: normalisation; people of peace; power; violence; participation.
The ght against gender-based violence: A missional
nurturing of people of peace
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enablers of GBV. The perpetrators are mostly men, whereas
the enablers are the realities of the normalisation of violence
in our local communities, a negative understanding of power
and a lack of participation of the church in fighting this
pandemic. It tries to answer this question: how can
InnerCHANGE participate in empowering the youth and
teenagers in fighting against GBV? InnerCHANGE focuses on
enablers of GBV in its teaching and its audience is composed
of men and women. The curriculum designed was built from
existing academic literature on GBV, biblical passages and
observations of the reality of GBV in Soshanguve. This is a
small contribution the church could make in building
communities of peace that fight against acts of violence from
the inside out. The designing process of this curriculum took
some ethical considerations.
Ethical consideraons
Before starting to write this research, the author spoke to all
the InnerCHANGE beneficiaries and neighbours who have
shared their experiences of GBV with the team before. He
wanted to share his intention to use their lived experiences of
GBV as a resource to empower them and others as people of
peace who would stand against any acts of violence. It was
important to let these neighbours know that their individual
stories of GBV won’t be shared in detail. However, the
author’s interpretation of lessons learned from those stories
will be put as themes of the curriculum to be designed. The
author spoke to 37 women, 29 adults and 8 teenagers. He also
spoke to the involved teenagers’ parents or guardians to get
their consent. He handed out to all of them a consent letter to
be signed. This letter described the purpose of the research. It
stated that no body’s name will be mentioned in the research.
It finally stated that nobody’s experience of violence will be
mentioned verbatim.
After this process, the author started designing the curriculum
around the themes of the normalisation of violence, power
and participation as the outcome of his interpretation of
enablers of GBV.
Normalisaon of violence
The purpose of this section is to teach the audience to see
violence as abnormal and encourage it to be aligned to peace
and hope building efforts as a foundation of a good society.
The Bible alludes multiple times to the importance of
building a strong foundation like in 1 King 5:17 where
workers are urged to use good stones so that the temple’s
foundation can be solid. InnerCHANGE thought that a solid
foundation in the fight against GBV could be to challenge the
current normalisation of violence in our local community, to
share a short history of violence for awareness reasons and to
allude to coping mechanisms ordinary people use to survive
in a violent culture.
Challenging the normal
In a township like Soshanguve, violence seems to be a normal
expression of grievances or power even though it hurts,
destroys or dehumanises others. The danger of this
normalisation is that ordinary people easily emulate it. What
is experienced in Soshanguve seems to be widespread
throughout South Africa. There is a general culture of
violence in South Africa that many residents have
experienced. South Africa is rated as ‘the second most unsafe
country out of the 48 countries south of the Sahara’ (De Beer
2020:4). Violence seems to be a normal phenomenon around
us. Gqola (2007:118) stresses that we can only ‘undo it by
unmasking the collective denial’ of violence amongst us.
Many of us know abusers and rapists, but we choose to
remain silent. Many of us also know a guy who slapped his
girlfriend at a function, a teacher who is involved in a sexual
relationship with a learner but we do not call him out for
doing something wrong. Some of us seem to enjoy
homophobic and misogynist jokes we hear in public spaces.
In our local community streets, walking women are
constantly whistled at, comments are made about their
bodies and some eyes go as far as undressing them. Some
cases of GBV have resulted in femicide. A female is killed
every 8 h by her male partner in South Africa. These statistics
are ‘five times higher than the average in the world’ (Banda
2020:1). Moreover, a recent report from the South African
Police Services shows that ‘sexual crimes’ have increased by
1.7% (873 more cases than in 2019) in 2020 (News24 2020). In
the context of Soshanguve, many of these sexual crimes are
perpetrated by people who know each other such as
neighbours and family members.
The Covid-19 lockdown which the South African government
imposed from March 27, 2020, exacerbated the realities of
GBV in Soshanguve and countrywide. Tisane (2020:6) points
out that ‘87 000 gender-based violence complaints were
registered within the first three weeks of the lockdown’.
Additionally, Google shared that there has been a 64% spike
in online searches for the words ‘domestic violence shelters’
since the beginning of the lockdown’ (Tisane 2020:7).
People of peace need to be aware of these concerning and
alarming statistics so that they can become a voice that
counters the culture of violence around them. They should
constantly seek the peace of their township and city (Jeremiah
29:7) by saying no to violence when they see it. The knowledge
of the history of violence in South Africa could also be
empowering to people of peace.
A short history of the culture of violence
InnerCHANGE uses history to help its audience understand
the origin of this culture of violence that is around them.
According to the Centre for the study of violence and
reconciliation (CSVR 2019a), in the 1920s already, cities were
facing serious problems of violence. A violent environment
was created by the different cultures and customs of migrant
labourers colliding as well as the inequalities the capitalist
system created. Violence is understood here as ‘the intentional
use of physical force or power… that either result in or have
a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological
harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation’ (World Health
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Organization 2020). The 1920s was the season where newly
discovered gold mines attracted migrant labours from
different corners. Since then, South African cities always
have residents from a diversity of cultures and socio-
economic status who sometimes collide. These cities have
maintained their violent culture. South Africa still has some
of the highest levels of intimate partner homicide in the
world, the rate of its child homicide is double the global
average and its rate of violence amongst youth is nine times
higher than the global average (CSVR 2019b:2). Violence is
also on the increase in public protests relating to service
delivery, salary demands, vigilantism, demarcation disputes,
xenophobic incidents, elections and political party
disagreements (CSVR 2019b:3). Hoosen (2020:47–48) stresses
that ‘apartheid is a legacy that traumatically etched an
indelible mark on the psyche of the people of South Africa’,
which includes an intergenerational culture of violence. The
apartheid government focus was on dismantling any
movement of insurrection against it. Therefore, it intentionally
did not invest in crime prevention in townships. This
situation forced township residents to rely on informal
mechanisms of justice such as mob justice that are also forms
of violence. Mob justice seems to be a way to avenge a crime
and establish justice through violence (CSVR 2019a:5–6).
Until today, mob justice is still used in our local community.
The unjust system of apartheid also contributed to the
internalisation of feelings of inferiority in black people, who
are the majority of the population of Soshanguve. Black
people were treated as aliens and third-class citizens in their
own country. As the author observes many violent incidents
in his local community, he has seen a connection ‘between
feelings of low self-worth and the propensity to violence’
(CSVR 2019b:6–7). One of the psychological legacies of
apartheid is the inferiority complex that was inculcated in
black people. This legacy may ‘be a contributing factor to the
problem of violence in South Africa’ (CSVR 2019:6–7).
Apartheid also brought a culture of fear, mutual suspicion
and the need to self-protect. Firearms became a means for
self-protection. In our township communities, there was an
influx of illegal firearms during the volatile season of the
1980s and 1990s. It is said that many of these firearms were
clandestinely imported from neighbouring countries for the
liberation movements. Until today, there are still many
firearms in civilian hands that ‘has an influence on violent
crime in South Africa’ (CSVR 2019a:7). Many of our
neighbours have been held at gunpoint in their
neighbourhood. In many house robberies – which occur
regularly – perpetrators use guns. This is just an example of
how the possession of illegal firearms is common in
Soshanguve. This is a reality in many other South African
townships. Although this culture of violence has been
normalised, it is still unpleasant for many people. This feeling
has led them to seek for coping mechanisms.
Coping mechanism
Violence destroys. Despite the normalisation of violence
around us, the majority of our neighbours have learned to
cope by building society instead of destroying it. They live in
solidarity with one another. They intuitively live out the
values of Ubuntu that are ‘founded on dialogue, reciprocity…
mutual concern, care and sharing’ (Mashau & Kgatle 2019:7).
Many of our neighbours belong to societies, neighbourhood
watch initiatives and organised special transport as a way to
care for one another.
Some neighbours also use destructive means such as alcohol
and substance abuse in order to cope with the trauma of
living in a violent environment.
Sociees
Societies are groups of people who agree ‘to contribute a
fixed amount of money to a common pool weekly, fortnightly
or monthly’ (Nasasa 2020). These contributions can be put
towards emergencies such as funerals, an equal share of
funds at a certain period, the buying of groceries to be shared
by members or the buying of other commonly agreed upon
necessities.
Societies are a tangible example of a quest for mutual care.
People of peace can be inspired by the society model to work
together with like-minded people to fight against pandemics
such as GBV. The efforts of people working together to build
and protect are seen in our local community in initiatives
such as neighbourhood watch.
Neighbourhood watch
The author believes that ‘neighbourhood watch is one of the
most effective ways for neighbourhoods to reduce crime’ in
our local communities (Neighbourhood Watch SA 2020). In
the author’s neighbourhood, there is also a neighbourhood
watch. Every day from 03:00 to 06:00, we hear them blow
whistles and horns (vuvuzelas) to communicate with one
another to make sure that people and properties are protected.
Many neighbours have to start travelling to their workplaces
from 03:00. Many of them, especially women, have been
victims of violent crimes during those wee hours. Many
vulnerable people who are sick have to wake up very early in
the morning to go to clinics or hospitals. Many of them have
been victims of violence. Because the community established
a neighbourhood watch, we have seen violent crime
reduction. The patrollers are supported by the community.
Each household in the neighbourhood has to contribute R20
monthly that helps pay the patrollers stipends. This is a way
our neighbourhood, as well as others, tries to fight against
the destruction that violence brings in working towards
mutual protection. Ordinary community members also try to
protect themselves against violence through communal
initiatives such as the special booking of public transport.
Special booking of public transport
We also see that many of our neighbours, who work outside
our community, organise communal public transport to
and from work. Often, they have to pay a little bit more than
the normal fare so that they can be picked up from their
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homes and dropped off at their homes too. These groups
often have to leave the township very early when most
people are still sleeping and sometimes return late in the
evening. Special bookings have formed communities for
mutual protection. As a group, they pose a threat to
criminals. The latter find it easy to attach individuals,
especially women when they are alone. From pure
observation, special transport has reduced a lot of violent
crime that many people from the working class as well as
school learners were victims of in the wee hours of the
morning as well as at night. This is just an example of how
working as a group can protect members from violence and
other harmful things.
The previous three sections are examples of positive coping
mechanisms we see in our local community. Some people
choose negative ones such as alcohol and substance abuse.
Alcohol and substance abuse
This is another coping mechanism many of our neighbours
resort to, which is unfortunately negative and sometimes
leads to violence. According to Mpani and Nsibande (2015),
South Africa has ‘the highest level of adult per capita
alcohol consumption in Africa’. They add that ‘alcohol
abuse…is reported to be associated with increased domestic
violence’ (Mpani & Nsibande 2015). Gibbs et al. (2020)
support this viewpoint in pointing out that alcohol abuse
contributes to ‘aggression through diminished behaviour
inhibition’.
Substance abuse and addiction also seem to be connected to
violent behaviours. It is believed that drug and alcohol
use can weaken self-control. The effects of substance abuse
on someone’s behaviour lead ‘many to believe that there is
a strong correlation between acts of violence and the
abuse’ (Johnson & Belfer 1995:115). Another thing that
InnerCHANGE believes is that it has enabled GBV in our
local community, which has to do with power.
Power
The purpose of this section is to teach that power is
accessible to all. It should be used to serve and uplift others,
not to hurt or destroy them. The bible passage Matthew
18:1–4 teaches us that the greatest person in the kingdom of
God is the servant not the powerful person with the ability
to inflict pain to others without being held accountable.
Christians are called to use power, which is a way that
empowers others and improves the quality of their lives. It
seems that power is often used to suppress or disempower
others. Sometimes, negative use of power results in violence.
The majority of victims of the latter around us are women
and children. In our local community, the systems of power
such as patriarchy, culture, law enforcement and money
can sometimes be enablers of GBV. A person of peace
should learn to critically interact with these systems, draw
wisdom from them and reject practices that condone
destructive behaviours such as GBV.
Patriarchy
African societies are patriarchal. This worldview is in sharp
contrast with God’s creation story in Genesis 1:27 where it is
stated that ‘God created human beings in his image’ (NLT
version). In our context, men are seen as ‘superior’ to
women (Wood 2019:2). This sense of superiority has
rendered some abusive exercise of power by men, normal.
Patriarchy is not limited to Africa; it has ‘shaped societies in
the history of humanity…it promotes male supremacy’ in
all spheres of life (Wood 2019:4). This supremacist ideology
is ‘inherited by men, and it is passed on to them’ inter-
generationally (Laurien 2004:1). When a woman opposes
patriarchy, some ‘men resort to coercion, intimidation and
violence’ (Wood 2019:5).
In a patriarchal society such as South Africa, some men rape
women as a means to communicate their power over them.
Such was the case with jackrolling, which became common in
the township of Soweto in the 1970s and 1980s. ‘Jackrolling
was a brazen, broad daylight abduction of young women
and teenage girls. The perpetrators were militant youths,
young men who ruled the streets of the township’ (Tlhabi
2017:59). This crime was committed openly without fear of
any consequences. This was the beginning of the rape culture
South Africa currently decries. Bordie (2020:53–54) traces the
beginning of the rape culture in townships from ‘the school
boycotts that had started after June 1976’ during the Soweto
uprising. Schools were closed for more than six months
because of continued and widespread protests. As a
consequence, thousands of learners saw their daily academic
obligations interrupted. They stayed at home bored.
Newspapers started reporting about learners who turned to
drugs and booze and sexual activities. A representative from
the South African National Council on Alcoholism said that
he estimated that one third of children in Soweto were on
drugs or alcohol. These behaviours contributed to violence in
general and rape in particular. The Daily News, a newspaper,
reported that, between 1976 and 1977, more than three rapes
a day were reported in Soweto, and it was believed that the
number of unreported rapes meant that the true figure was
even higher. The rape culture has spread throughout the
country, including Soshanguve. A lesson here is that boredom
can lead to harmful things.
There is a general agreement amongst feminist scholars that
‘patriarchy is the root cause of violence against women’
(Gqola 2015:4). There seems to be a social tolerance of it.
Such tolerance legitimates patriarchy and continues to
communicate that a woman is not an equal partner of a man
in a relationship. Such tolerance should be opposed and
rejected by people of peace.
Violence by men against the vulnerable is also sometimes
exercised as an attempt to regain power. The post-apartheid
South Africa has seen the emancipation of many women.
Some of the latter hold better jobs than men. In many
households of the township of Soshanguve, women are the
only breadwinners. This reality triggers feelings of insecurity
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in some men, which leads to violence. The lack of job or
having a less paying job than a woman makes some men feel
irrelevant in the domestic sphere. In an attempt to ‘regain
power’, they use violence (Masango 2018:3). Peacock and
Levack (2004:12) caution that despite the fact that GBV has
reached pandemic levels, ‘many men care deeply about the
women in the lives’. Such men are an inspiration to people of
peace and their behaviour must be emulated. Mshweshwe
(2020:4) says that such men ‘promote peaceful masculinity’
because they view power as a weapon to love, care, protect
and emancipate others.
It is important to point out that many women have
internalised men’s violent behaviours as normal. Banda
(2020:4) points out to a survey conducted by Statistics South
Africa in 2018 stating that nearly equally both genders
agreed that a man can beat his female partner ‘for the
following reasons’: (1) when a woman does not report her
whereabouts when she is absent from home, (2) when a
woman neglects children, (3) when a woman argues with
him, (4) when a woman refuses to have sex and (5) when
she burns food. Magezi and Manzanga (2019:2) got almost
the same sentiment from both spouses about ‘reasons for a
man to hit his intimate partner’ in the context of Zimbabwe.
They added a sixth reason that is infidelity. This endorsement
shows the need to include women as people of peace against
GBV. Critical interaction with our existing culture could
help in this regard.
Culture
The purpose of this section is to teach that Christians are
called to critically interact with the conventional wisdom that
culture offers. Principles should be retained that promote
human dignity and they should distance themselves from
principles that oppress other human beings. Our African
culture tends to enable the inequality of power between men
and women. This inequality is seen, for instance, how our
community values a boy child over a girl child. Boys are seen
as heirs of a family. They will keep the surname of the family
for life and pass it onto the next generation. Therefore, they
are preferred over girls. Girls are expected to join other
families when they get married. This preference is unfair
because all children are a gift from God who created them in
his likeness (Gn 1:27).
Cultural wisdom, sometimes, discourages victims of rape to
report the crime to law enforcement officers, especially if
perpetrators are family members. Many cases of GBV go
unreported because many women conform to the cultural
wisdom of keeping the family’s dirty laundry in the family.
There is, therefore, a ‘need to deconstruct’ some traditional
practices that enable destruction through violence such as
rape (Mshweshwe 2020:4). This is also true about a culture
that tacitly accepts men’s dominance and superiority. This
acceptance does not mean that all is well in the relationship
between men and women in our community. The reality is
that ‘women-men relations are tense and suspicious’ (Banda
2020:3). Many women are very anxious to cross path with
men at night, in the early hours of the morning or on a road
less used by many people during the day. A South African
woman describes this reality in these words (Gqola 2007):
The Republic of South Africa … has a contradictory situation
where women are legislatively empowered, and yet we do not
feel safe in our streets or homes. Truly empowered women do
not live with the haunting fear of rape, sexual harassment, smash
and grabs and other violent intrusions into their spaces, bodies
and psyches. A country that empowers women would grant us
our entitlement of freedom of movement, sexual autonomy,
bodily integrity and safety. (pp. 116–117)
There is also a corporate culture that prefers to employ men
than women. The fact that some women require maternity
leave sometimes or are mothers of young children
‘discourages some employers from hiring them’ because of
the disruption that their responsibility may affect the
production or work output (Janse van Rensburg, Claasen &
Fourie 2019:7). A job provides a source of income. The latter
gives power that could be a good tool to equalise the power
relationship between a man and woman in a household and
society in general. People of peace should pay attention to all
the factors that could contribute to GBV such as employment
equity. They should also make themselves aware about the
laws of their country so that they can align themselves to the
side of justice, which can sometimes mean challenging law
enforcement officers. Currently, the rule of law does not
always translate into the reign of justice.
Law enforcement for the reign of jusce
The purpose of this section is to show that the best use of
power by law enforcement officers should be to protect the
victims of violence and ensure that there is consistent
consequence management for perpetrators. Unfortunately,
from InnerCHANGE experience of reporting cases of GBV, it
seems that our police are ill-equipped to diligently deal with
such matters. It seems that only 4% of police officers
countrywide have ‘the required training about how to deal
with domestic and gender-based violence’ (Bordie 2020:207).
In many instances, when our team took matters to our nearest
police station, there was no urgency in comprehensively
responding and resolving them. As ordinary community
members, we are unaware of the right channels that lead to a
successful prosecution of crimes of violence. We expect the
police to educate us in that. Yet, we have seen individual
police officers giving us different ways to go about one case
that have led to unsuccessful prosecutions of the majority of
our cases. Our experience has been that ‘our police do not
have adequate training’ in GBV (Davies & Dreyer 2014:7).
The dockets of many cases of GBV have gone missing at our
police station (Bordie 2020:75). This reality perpetuates
unlawful practices because they result in impunity. It
discourages law-abiding residents and people who believe in
mob justice may feel vindicated as a result. It has been shown
that the rule of law does not always result in the triumph of
justice because law-abiding citizens who report to the police
cases of GBV don’t always get the support they deserve.
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It seems that the inefficiency of the South African police
service we have experienced is partly caused by several
‘urgent challenges’ (Bordie 2020:206). They include a
demoralised rank caused by many years of unstable and
politically biased senior management. There are still high
levels of crime in the country the police have to attend to.
Several police officers view GBV as a normal show of power.
This is evident in the high number of police officers who have
been convicted of crimes related to GBV. It is, however,
important to mention that the police have to apply wisdom
and diligence in dealing with cases of GBV, particularly cases
of rape. There have been cases of women falsely accusing
men of rape. The task of the police in these instances was to
investigate the matter in order to establish justice. The latter
was to restore the reputation of the men implicated as non-
rapists. This is one of the ways we have seen them use their
power for society building. Another powerful factor that has
caused GBV in our local community is money.
Money
The purpose of this section is to encourage the pursuit of
relational equity between a man and women. Someone’s
ability to financially contribute to the expenses of their
relationship could be a springboard towards such equity. In
our local community, money is seen as the solution to all
problems and the ultimate good quality of life. A longing for
the security that money brings influences some relationships.
For example, some women are advised to only be in a
relationship with financially stable men so that they can be
financially supported well. This is a widespread worldview
in our local community as well as other African communities.
There is a need for women to be ‘empowered economically’
so that we can start dismantling the existing vertical
partnerships we see in relationships and move towards
horizontal ones. It is argued that ‘the improvement of
women’s financial and educational position’ is a good recipe
for relational equity in households and society (Vähäkangas
2013:86). Financial inequity has led to some cases of GBV in
our local community. Some women expect their male
partners to be their financial supporters. There are many
instances when this expectation leads to violence because a
man did not feel that he got a good return on his investment.
This mentality of financial expectations from men is also seen
in some teenage girls. The latter expect their boyfriends to
financially maintain them. The boyfriends also expect
something in return that a girl must give. We have seen
incidences of GBV when a girlfriend could not give something
the boyfriend expected to have as a return for his investment.
It is important to know that women with a source of income
have a high chance of negotiating relational equity in a
partnership. They are also ‘less exposed to domestic violence.
[in case of such,] they are more capable of fleeing their
abusive partners’ and live independently (Chagunda
2019:45).
Our culture of paying a bride price to marry may also be an
enabler of power inequity in marriages. Nowadays, the bride
price is commercialised. This practice seems to set the tone
for the commonly held belief that in a relationship between a
man and woman, the man should be the financial supporter
and the woman is a servant who takes care of the man’s
needs. It is also common to see young women who are in
intimate partnership with men who are a lot older than them
and financially stable so that their material needs can be
taken care of. Such an expectation could nurture an inferiority
complex and disempower women from their capacity to be
‘equal partners in a relationship’ and expose them to abuse
from men who may have a negative understanding of power
(Meyer 2013:11). This mindset could also disempower them
from an important role they are already playing in our
society. Women are the backbone of the local community life
and households. Many of them seem to have a better sense of
resilience than men. The author has, for instance, seen many
women prematurely getting pregnant, dropping out of
school, going back to school after giving birth and getting
good-paying jobs as a result of their academic qualifications,
whereas many young men who drop out of schools tend not
to go back to school and settle for blue-collar jobs. Critical
interaction with this concept of power that enables GBV
would require the participation of different stakeholders,
including the church.
Parcipaon
InnerCHANGE believes that the church in partnership with
local communities should participate in ending GBV. One of
the ways to do that is to empower local congregations and
communities as people of peace. Local congregations and
other faith-based organisations could design teachings
on violence so that Christian communities could start
exemplifying a new paradigm of building communities of
peace. These teachings would help address the negative
ramifications of violence our local communities have. Violence
has ‘far-reaching implications for long-term emotional,
behavioural and cognitive adjustment beyond post-traumatic
disorder’ (Nuttman-Schwartz 2017:30). Violent environments
can be traumatic for people and can force them to indulge in
destructive behaviours.
Local congregations and other faith-based organisations
could encourage people from a young age to form and pursue
functional relationships with the other gender. The other
gender should be seen as a complement to sustainably build
a loving and caring environment, which our world longs for.
Such efforts could prevent GBV in nurturing children,
teenagers and the youth as people of peace. They could break
the culture of violence we see around us (Hoosen 2020:46–47).
Research shows that violence affects children negatively, ‘not
only during childhood but also into adulthood. When this
happens, their relationships, productivity, general conduct
and behaviour becomes counterproductive…’ (Sifo &
Masango 2014:7). Through these efforts, the church could
proactively participate in fighting against GBV. The church is
called to ‘address human challenges’ in order to improve the
quality of life of ordinary people (Magezi & Manzanga
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2019:5). Such a calling means that matters of the common
good, everyday concerns and a constant conversation with
‘contemporary culture’ should preoccupy her (Magezi &
Manzanga 2019:5–6). It could also partner with the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals that ‘are targeting
eliminating all forms of violence against women’ to increase
peaceful households and environments (Muluneh et al.
2020:12). The violent culture around us is an inherited practice
that is still spreading and infecting people at an alarming
proportion. The church is challenged to participate in
minimising this spread from this current generation if it
hopes to see a society of peace in which GBV will be inexistent
soon. Such participation should mobilise both its membership
as well as local communities.
Conclusion
This study shared InnerCHANGE efforts of participation in
fighting against GBV. It uses grounded theology as a
methodology in an emancipatory way through a curriculum
design to teach teenagers and young adults it serves
about becoming people of peace. This curriculum was
built around the themes of the normalisation of
violence, power and participation. It aimed to help break
the inter-generational culture of violence we see in our local
community and start to build communities filled with
people of peace.
Acknowledgements
Compeng interests
The author declares that he has no financial or personal
relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him
in writing this article.
Author’s contribuons
K.T.K. is the sole author of this article.
Funding informaon
This research received no specific grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Data availability
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data
were created or analysed in this study.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of
the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or
position of any affiliated agency of the author.
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