85% of abused women are married to alcoholics - Bayisenge

Drunkardness amongst men is responsible for 85 per cent of all gender-based violence against women, Jeannette Bayisenge, the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion said. Appearing before parliament on Tuesday, November 15 to answer questions about domestic conflicts and problems affecting the society, Bayisenge that there is still some work needed to be done to achieve a full family safety. Alcoholic men have a tendency to commit GBV-related crimes, she said, citing findings of the Demographic Health Survey (DHS). She added that the remaining 15 per cent GBV cases in families were not linked to alcoholic men. Official figures suggest that abusive men have inherited the behaviour from their fathers. 54 per cent of men with abusive behaviour towards their wives tend to have grown up in families where women were beaten, according to the DHS 2020. Bayisenge said the trend was mostly a result of social constructs about gender and women’s role in the society. “The problems facing the family have their roots in our way of thinking as a society, which is shaped by the way we grow up, education, religion and the media,” she said. “There are efforts to change the current trend. The deconstruction of the rooted gender perceptions will take us a long time to see the desired changes.” She added that the concerted efforts should be targeted on young people. Gender-based violence in families has been of major concern, notably wife-beating. Official figures show that majority women find wife-beating justifiable under certain circumstances. Other problems facing the family include the rising number of divorce cases, from about 1,300 in 2018 to about 9,000 in 2019, according to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. Lawmakers say some of the problems are a result of an array of societal and financial demands.

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85% of abused women are married to alcoholics - Bayisenge