The Sunday Mail
IN an incident that flies foul of ongoing Women’s Month celebrations, Zimbabwe this week woke up to unsavoury reports that a Kwekwe man is demanding permission to cheat on his wife because he sent her to school.
As if that is not enough, the member of the fairer sex is routinely sjamboked for daring to inquire on the husband’s whereabouts.
My foot!
Forty-two years after Independence, there are men who still view women as sex toys and animals of service and sacrifice?
Luckily, a protection order was granted in favour of the woman.
This was after she dragged her mercurial, assertive and stormy husband to the courts of law for redress.
But the case is not an isolated one.
Women are going through hell in the communities in which we live.
Aside from frequent beatings and limited access to food, some women now resemble unweeded gardens as no proper care is being given to them by their so-called husbands.
“My brother, I have never seen anyone as resilient as a woman. Do you know that some women have been reduced to slaves in their homes? They are not allowed to make any decisions and have to contend with a few morsels of bread per day.
“Eating meat is a luxury. They are not allowed to enjoy as they are quickly shown the exit for daring to seek an increase in the measly sums they are allocated for food,” one elderly woman told this writer in Kuwadzana recently.
She said she was left with no option other than to take her daughter away from an abusive husband.
“I had grown weary of hearing stories of my daughter being mistreated by her husband and I ended up having to take her back. Some men are too demanding yet they take absolutely no care for their wives.
“My daughter had no access to medical treatment and had to rely on her immune system to heal because the husband would not take her to hospital, even for a simple flu,” she said with tears welling in her eyes.
Yours truly was told that some men in the ghetto take wife bashing as a sport. Some neighbours actually get shocked if some women spend a week without being beaten up.
“Last month I was forced to send my tenant packing. He barely spends a week without bashing his wife. We would be surprised if they spent a week without stopping a fight and I decided to let them leave my house because the beatings were too much,” one elderly landlord said.
But the stressing of women is neither confined to a social class nor age.
Women of all shapes, sizes and age groups are affected.
Gentle reader, I did not know that some men were living like princes and kings at the expense of women.
Whenever a chicken is slaughtered, there are parts of the bird that are meant for the husband and if they are not dished to him, be assured of trouble.
Some men dictate the times a woman must bath and measure the amount of food that is to be cooked per day and no adjustments may be made to the portions without consulting the husband.
It has also become very tricky to meet a former schoolmate of the opposite sex and strike a conversation with them because this may lead to serious trouble.
There are a lot of insecure husbands out there who make it their business to know who talks to their wives, why and over what.
Getting married to some men, yours truly was told, was worse than serving a prison term amid reports that they had militarised their homes which they ran with draconian rules.
Some women are not allowed to visit their families for fear they would meet their old lovers, neither are they allowed any visitors.
The money they are given is calculated to the last penny and if they are suspected of misuse, trouble follows.
Sadly, some men actually share notes not how to ill-treat women in bars, churches, workplaces and even on the streets. They forget they have mothers, sisters, wives and daughters who will be subjected to the same treatment.
As the world celebrates Women’s Month, let’s spare a thought for our mothers, wives, and sisters who certainly deserve better.
Inotambika mughetto.
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