Breaking culture of silence, imperative in ending GBV

The Founder of Girl to Woman Initiative (GTWI), Ms Linda-Claudia Ukeh, says speaking up aimed at breaking the culture of silence is imperative in ending Gender-Based Violence
(GBV) and rape-related offences in Nigeria.

She said this in an interview on Tuesday in Abuja.

She said mentoring and counselling were critical in encouraging female adolescents to brace up against
the crime of GBV.

Ukeh, who described young people as vulnerable group, said it was time to break the culture of silence toward GBV
and begin to speak out against the menace.

She added that “let us break the culture of silence along submissive mothers who believe that it is better to keep
a home than speak up and incur the wrath of the spouse.

“Most often than not, women are the victims and in adolescents, girls are the victims, so if they are mentored and
counselled, they will speak up.”

The expert called for continuous seminars and workshops to create awareness for women to rise up to say no to GBV.

He added that “we need to give our young women the voices to speak up when it hurts.

“We need to make them understand that standing up and speaking for themselves is the way forward.

“They need to be taught to defend themselves from unwanted intimate advances, and we can achieve that only through mentorship and counseling.”

Ukeh explained that all women had at one point in their lives been nearly assaulted in schools by male students and male teachers, on their jobs and even at home by family members and friends.

She, however, affirmed that teaching them to stand up for themselves was imperative and critical component in stemming the tide of GBV.

She said that success in the fight against GBV could not be made without involvement of boys.

According to her, it is important to involve boys in mentorship programme because boys have been allowed to get away with bad behaviours in the past.

“These boys grow up into men who continue with the wrong behaviour. We also need to teach women, no matter the age, not to be silent.”