Proposing UN SDG 5.5: A ‘Men Oriented’ Strategy towards 0% Rape and Murder of Women (Shortened)
The recent explosion of femicide cases in South Africa and Kenya has been disorienting and painful to hear about.
I never considered how weird it was that I used to take so many precautions when I was in Tanzania or Kenya for my safety. It was embedded in me as a child and normalized throughout my life.
And not just there, but everywhere, including here in Canada. Being a woman means being vigilant in a lot of circumstances.
To give some context. In Kenya, “Some 500 Kenyan women were murdered between 2017 and 2024”. In South Africa, in the “first three months of 2023, 1,0512 women were raped, 1485 attempted murders of women were reported and 969 women were killed.” While in Asia, “An average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in India in 2022”.
The UN Sustainable Development Goal 5:
‘End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere. Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.’
The woman is mentioned and yet, who is the one causing this?
I know maybe this is all implied in the SDG, but maybe we need to state it out and make it clear so it is known this is not just the responsibility of women, but really and truly more of the responsibility needs to be shared with the MEN.
On the UN page SDG it asks ‘What can we do?’
“If you are a girl, you can stay in school, help empower your female classmates to do the same and fight for your right to access sexual and reproductive health services.
If you are a woman, you can address unconscious biases and implicit associations that form an unintended and often an invisible barrier to equal opportunity.
If you are a man or a boy, you can work alongside women and girls to achieve gender equality and embrace healthy, respectful relationships.”
The women get 4 lines and the men get 1 line and a half for shared responsibility.
Instead of talking about how a woman should address the unconscious bias — why can’t we also say let’s teach men not to have ‘unconscious bias’?
Instead of saying a woman should fight for their access to sexual and reproductive services, why don’t you talk about who is and what is keeping it from happening, and if it happens to be men in power, figure the problem out with them first!
And men should not just “work alongside” women. Men should take responsibility — they should actively consider their own roles, their actions, and change themselves and their fellow men around them. (Or we as a community should be building towards that).
If we can identify the problem (which for us, we know lies in men right now) then maybe just maybe, we can try to actually solve the problem.
If you identify the cause of the problem and address it, you may be able to encourage better growth, correct the wrong, and to set that thing back in the right direction.
Men vs Women
In ‘A New Global Gender divide’, they found that ‘political progress owes little to the young men in these generations’. The article basically states that women are turning more towards liberal ideals while men are opposing them for various reasons.
For example, men and women socialize in separate and distinct online environments. According to Antarika Sens article, “YouTube remains predominantly male-oriented. Men dedicate 44% more time to the platform each month,”. As Antarika found and according to an analysis by VOX-Pol, 30,000 alt-right Twitter accounts were more frequently connected to YouTube than to any other platform.
Brookings Institute scholar Richard Reeves in “Of Boys and Men” states that boys should wait an extra year before starting kindergarten — when it comes to education as girls appear to be more mature and have more emotional management versus boys being a little less intellectually prepared. (Or mature!)
As stated by Vanessa Mendoza “In the fourth grade, for example, girls’ reading proficiency is six percentage points higher than boys. By the time they reach the eighth grade, it’s grown to 11 points higher.”
Let’s use this same understanding to offer a solution for breaking down these different cues that men and women go through in life.
There was a whole movement (or still is) about getting women into STEM, I cannot help but agree that should do this for men but in HEAL jobs/courses.
But now when it comes to rape and murder — What can we do differently?
The society has a huge role to play. Bad men are a reflection of a bad society. It’s not siloed, and it does come from somewhere.
Better men are just not born, they must be built over time.
Women are.
We are taught to be quiet, and protect ourselves, dress a certain way, talk in a certain manner (girls don’t talk or laugh like that!), and work certain jobs. The list is endless on what women can and cannot do. In actuality what they do, not what we type online or say at face value.
The same should be done for men — from an early stage, they should be taught kindness, no harm, respect, empathy…
In Summary
- If we can identify the problem then maybe just maybe, we can try to actually solve the problem.
- We need to actively have MEN-ORIENTED solutions now too reflected in the legislation, policies, school mandates, religious & faith-based organizations, and our homes!
*I know that 0% might be an idealistic goal.. but shoot for the stars and hope you land on the moon right?
