It is an accepted fact: in Zimbabwe, data and surveys repeatedly show that women are disproportionately victims of gender-based violence (GBV) That reality must never be watered down. It is even reflected in the reaction of society to instances of GBV depending on the gender of the victim.
A woman beaten up elicits instinctive sympathy while a man beaten by a woman is the butt of jokes. There are those who say that possibly the statistics of men who are victims of abuse are higher, just that many don’t come forward because they know they will turn into punchlines and memes.
But this truth is not about debating GBV statistics. It is simply that if we want a society free from violence, one where homes are safe and relationships are based on respect, then all violence must be condemned uniformly without appearing to excuse one demographic because of the numbers.
Violence from women toward men, children, or other women must also be condemned, corrected, and prevented with the same verve that we advocate against violence by men.
Because justice isn’t about who holds the most scars. It’s about principle: No violence. Against anyone. Ever.
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Why this matters even if women remain the majority of victims
- Recorded cases published by ZRP and on social media show women as killers and abusers.
- Violence is not a gender-exclusive crime. A 2024 Zimbabwe-based study documented that men, boys, and even children can — and do — suffer abuse from female partners. (ResearchGate)
- When we treat violence as a “women-victim, men-perpetrator” issue only, we ignore a subset of victims as dismissible minor statistics.
- Worse: we teach a dangerous message — that only men can be violent, and only women can be victims. That absolution shields some women from accountability, while isolating male victims.
We must remember that messaging and advocacy impact on policy. Before the recent abolishment of capital punishment in Zimbabwe, advocacy ensured that women escaped the death sentence. The thinking behind that was based on women being peaceful creatures who only become violent when “pushed” by trauma imposed by men.
We must reject that narrative. It does not make us safer. It makes us blind and entrenches the very evil we are fighting. Because once we accept that one demographic can be “pushed” into violence, we automatically accept that all perpetrators are “pushed”.
Which is why the headlines of victim shaming are so ordinary. They simply reflect our society’s genuine perceptions outside the politically correct pronouncements. The very same thing we find abominable when it comes in headlines of men as perps is what pushed a whole national direction on handing women a lighter sentence for the same crime: “The victims/circumstances made them do it!”
To see create a world where home is a safe place, we must adopt a zero-tolerance approach toward all acts of intimate, domestic, or gender-based violence, regardless of the perpetrator’s gender.
Because we cannot build a just society on hypocrisy. We can’t preach dignity for some and silence for others. We can’t fight patriarchy with gendered blind spots.
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