Feature: Men against VAW and it is paying off

File Photo of Nepali Women.

Narayan Dhungana (Chitwan) / May 25: They are undeterred. Local men of Dibyanagar VDC in the district have joined hands in the campaign to fight violence against women (VAW).

Various awareness programmes are in place to root out VAW, while most of the male members, inspired by the fact that men are the main agent to eliminate gender-based discrimination, have given up drinking alcohol and gambling in the knowledge that these sorts of bad habits are primary sources of VAW.

Meet local resident Indra Bahadur Kumal, now a member of the campaign against VAW. Until some years ago, Kumal had to go through hard times due to his drinking problem and gambling as he thought that he could never quit it.

However, things changed gradually and he was on the path to quit his drinking problem when he, inspired by his local colleagues working against gender-based discrimination, joined the campaign against VAW.

Now he completely gave up drinking alcohol and gambling and he and his family are leading a prosperous and happy life.

“I had to face beatings from my husband (Indra Bahadur) under the influence of alcohol. The situation had gone to the extent that I once tried to force him out of the house,” recounts Jayanti Kumal, telling of her past hard times she faced when her husband was alcoholic.

“Now things have gotten alright and we are all happy after he (husband) stopped drinking,” she adds, elated.

Indra Bahadur, with a smile, goes on, “And education of our children has improved as well.” Now the couple is a part of the campaign against VAW and working hard towards this end devotedly.

The drive against alcohol consumption and gambling is paying off effectively ever since a provision has been brought in place to impose a fine of Rs 500 each on those involving in the bad habits.

Tirtha Lal Shrestha is 76 years of age now, but is constantly engaged in helping his wife out with the household chores like cleaning up dirty utensils.

“My wife works around 12 hours a day. So I should also help her around the house to make things easier,” he says.

His transformation was not that easy in the male-dominated society through. “Some villagers would go to the extent of criticising me asking whether I had gone mad for washing dirty utensils,” he shares.

Now things are getting well and those male members mocking him for standing against gender-based discrimination have changed their mind and are helping their female members with household works.

The Transformation Supportive Men’s Committee with its braches already expanded to each Wards of the VDC has played a great role in bringing about change in men’s behaviours towards female members.

The committee members pledge that no VAW will take place in their houses before taking charge of office.

In case of any report of VAW in the villages, the committee office bearers will, at local level, call a gathering to be participated by both the victim and the guilty, hold discussion on the matter and settle it with the mutual consent of both the victim and guilty.

“We reach out to any villagers suffering any kind of VAW as soon as we are informed and resolve the matter,” said the committee member Indra Bahadur.

VAW occurs the most at the hands of men, so incidents of VAW would decease significantly with the involvement of men in a drive against gender-based violence, believes Dibyanagar VDC secretary Gopi Chandra Dawadi.

He also says that a plan is afoot to declare the VDC gender-friendly zone as well. Ultimately, the campaign is paying off. “Incidents of VAW in the villages have decreased significantly since the launch of the drive,” says Dawadi. RSS