Kenya: Why do Men Suffer in Silence?

Shavon Pulley/march 6, 2008/ Gender Issues
A man was burnt by his wife and locked in his house for several days. It was discovered by one of his children telling a neighbor. The final outcome was that his wife had been battering him for a long time and he was suffering in silence.
Usually in gender-based violence we think about the women being abused and not the other way around. Because the women are always usually violated against, it never cross our minds that a man could be getting the same mistreatment. When we talk about gender issues, they are usually confused for women's issues. It is useful to clarify that gender is much about men as it is about women.
It is important to understand that the way our societies socialize girls to be subordinate and act weak means that the flip side expects men to be strong, masculine and be the heads of households.
The expectation that men are the providers for their families may sometimes put too much pressure on them, especially in situations of high unemployment or where the woman has a job and the man does not. Men feel very inadequate and this may lead to violence in the home or may lead men into alcoholism. In extreme situations, men engage in criminal activities in order to fulfill the role of provider. All of these situations came about because of the role play we teach our children at a young age.
I choose this article because over the past 5 weeks I have focused on the gender issues of women and the inequality that comes along with it. All of my previous articles place the men at the top of the toedom and women are looked as the weakest individuals. A quote from this article states “If we hope to accomplish the stage of human social development at which the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of individuals will not be determined by their gender, then we all have a responsibility to use our circles of influence as parents, uncles, aunties, grandparents, teachers, community leaders, et cetera to socialise our boys and girls away from some stereotypes that tend to destroy rather than build.”

http://allafrica.com/stories/200705070362.html