Is this how we see our women?

 THESE days with women having a bigger voice in Papua New Guinea society, and being proactive in their efforts to gain an equal footing with men, it is interesting to note that some of our leaders are still old fashioned in their approach. 

Correctional Services Mi­­ni­ster Jim Simitab made some remarks during a visit to Wallis and Tarawai Islands, in his Wewak electorate, earlier in the month that showed his view of women is perhaps not in keeping with the 21st century. 

During an address to the people on the move to increase the penalties for law breakers, Simatab said those in particular, those who perpetrated crimes against women and children, and were brought to justice would be dealt with severely. 

They would be given no quarter of sympathy by the authorities. 

However, the main reason he gave for protecting these vulnerable members of the community was because of what they did for the community and their value to households and their families.

“Our women and girls are more important to us because without them there will be no food on the table each evening, there will be no water in the house to drink, our clothes will be dirty,” Simatab said.

“We must look after them because they are so valuable to us.”

Is this how little the minister thinks of his womenfolk?

It could be that the good minister was talking “down” to the level of his audience, rural folk, and was merely expressing sentiments that would strike a chord with them. 

That could very well be the explanation for such a statement. 

One would hope that this is not his personal belief or the ideal that he holds to be true and the natural order of things. 

Saying someone (man or woman) should be protected because of the role they play and the value they add to society is a rather simplistic, not to mention demeaning way of viewing women. 

Simatab was essentially saying to woman: “You are important to us because of the work you do”.

Our leaders do need to be careful of what they say in public because regardless whether they like it what comes out of their mouths is treated as gospel – or at the very least it will be used to justify actions – right or wrong.

To be fair to Simitab, if one were to put into context what he said, one could argue that in order to get a message across to the community one has to make it understandable and saying we need to take extra care of the women because of the tremendous work they do in traditional settings is but on the flip side this only engenders more negative views of women.

Surely Simatab could have chosen the theme of respect for women and advocate no violence against women. 

These are simple themes to build on. 

The abuse of women in any form, verbal and physical as well as intimidation, is considered a shameful and cowardly act in many western countries and thankfully those values are becoming part of modern PNG. 

An example of the zero tolerance approach can be seen with the country’s representative rugby league teams, the Hunters, the Kumuls and the Prime Minister’s XIII which advocate many good causes, one of which is No Violence Against Women. 

Players can have their contracts torn up if guilty of hitting a woman. 

Some people might use religion as a basis for their views on a woman’s place but in today’s increasingly secular world, any violence against women is a crime.  

Papua New Guinea is mo­ving away from the view that women simply occupy a largely domestic or secondary role in society. 

That mode of thinking is quickly becoming out dated, and in many places in the world, this kind of speech would be grossly frowned up.

The police must play their part to drive home the message. Any man who uses violence or the threat of it against a woman in any setting is committing a crime. 

The police must lead by example in this area by taking to task their own officers who beat their wives as there are too many reports of male officers beating their wives physically. 

That would show that they are serious about combating  violence against women and treating women fairly. 

The sooner Papua New Guinean men can break free of the cultural discrimination of women the better it will be for all.