BY: Shallon S. Gonlor
NIMBA COUNTY — WomenVoices Newspaper has recorded heartbreaking opinions about continued domestic violence against women in Liberia. Our correspondent in Nimba County gathered views of women concerning the rising deaths of women living with their male partners.
In an exclusive interview, several women of Nimba County, in tears, stressed serious disappointment and frustration over the forms and manners men continue to violate, disrespect, attack, and kill them in relationships as the result of alleged extra love affairs. Women’s murdered cases linked to love are reportedly on the increase in Nimba including other counties of Liberia because of jealousy.
Recording numerous women allegedly killed in relationships linked to extramarital affairs including the recent incident in Gbarpa Town, those women told our correspondent that they prefer living on the street or as single women, a condition they believe is not conducive but full of peace and happiness than to live with evil men. The women also expressed grief concern and fear of living and sharing bed with men they considered their ‘enemies and killers’.
However, the women want the Government of Liberia and international partners to take a decisive stance to put an end to the killing of potential women in domestic violence and create a safe space for all women and young girls.
When fleeing a violent home, women and children need access to a secure place to sleep, financial support, and legal protection and they need it quickly. Providing survivors with safe spaces or homes would also be a step toward addressing gender violence.
In 2019, the government with support from international partners and civil society groups, passed the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) — a legal instrument that seeks to abolish all forms of violence meted against women and children. Sexual and domestic violence are severe violations of human rights that are considered a crime against women and children.
The passage and signing into law is vital in curbing and eradicating domestic violence which has permeated every fabric of Liberia society but lacks implementation. Domestic Violence is a serious crime against women and children that takes on many forms, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Despite domestic violence, Liberian women suffer various forms of gender-based violence (GBV), including sexual and domestic violence, early and forced marriage, wife inheritance, and female genital mutilation. Like other counties of Liberia, here in Nimba County, gender-based violence ranks as the most important problem related to women’s rights that citizens think the government and society must address.
WOMEN OPINIONS ON TOP CONCERN
In their personal views, the women said it is “never justified” for a man to use physical force to discipline his wife. The women aged 30-70 criticized the use of physical force by men against the women who they claimed to love.
According to them, most men these days are evil and ill-treated women anyhow because of their ability to support them. Claiming that men only respect their female partners at the local level when struggling to gain status, but after getting five dollars he doesn’t care to respect his fiancé.
One of the women pointed out that women suffer because there is nowhere else they can get help, so they have to stay in the abusive relationship for social security. Theodosia B. Flomo said, “We suffer but nothing doing. Even if my partner beats me, I can run away but later on, I will still come back to the house, nowhere else to go. If there was a place where the women could be taken to be safe, it could be fine”
“One day I told my partner that we should use condoms but he beat me up and said that I had started sleeping with men. For me I am scared because he can drink liquor too much and sometimes he doesn’t come home until the next day, maybe he goes to sleep with other women. I’m afraid to talk before he beats on me.”
Theodosia B. Flomo is a mother of several children living with her husband in Gbarpa Town, Nimba County. The women aged 30-70, said the government through the Gender Ministry has tried but there is still much to be done about improving and strengthening the policies, such as the Domestic Violence Act, and making sure they are implemented.
Recommending that continuous engagement with local leaders, and uneducated men including working with the media in awareness creation and information dissemination, is also key because it will address issues like sexual violence, domestic violence, early and forced marriage, wife inheritance, and female genital mutilation.
