WOMEN TREATED AS COMMODITIES IN SD

Sir,

This week my attention was drawn to an injustice that society, man and culture in particular, inflict upon our women folk, all in the name of culture and other societal norms.

A traditional wedding reminded me of the stark reality that society treats women as commodities that need to satisfy the whims of a man.
The Bible teaches in Proverbs 18:22; “He who finds a wife finds a good thing.” And as can be expected, a man who finds such a woman has to be ecstatic, and can in the process, get carried away and lose himself to start saying things that are unintended. This nation is endowed with beautiful women who are also respectful; some to the point of being taken advantage of by chauvinists who treat them like commodities.

Unfortunately this is not right because women also have feelings and emotions.
An acquaintance of mine once suggested that grooms, if they had pre-marital children, they should have the arm of their suits cut short as a sign that they are also not true bachelors. I mean, I don’t understand why the wedding party and guests should get to know if my bride has had a child before getting married to me.

Why is this frowned upon by society in the case of the bride when society says nothing about it when it comes to the groom? This is grossly unfair. Then there is the culture that teaches that women cannot have libovu administered to them the second or subsequent times.
This in effect rules out a woman getting married later on in her life if the first marriage fails, as it happens frequently in this day and age; and sometimes not at the woman’s volition.

The irony of this again, is that this culture says nothing about the groom. He can marry and divorce all he likes; and each time he marries he is like a brand new bachelor. Again you ask how fair is that really.

In other societies, you have what you call genital mutilation that is administered to young women in the belief that it deprives them of the pleasure in lovemaking – and this, it is believed, will reduce their lust for sex. Again I ask; why should women not enjoy life like all of us. Is this all about trying to control them as men’s possessions? If it is; then I think we as society have gone too far in domesticating women for men.

B Dlamini

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