“A family can trade their daughter, a minor, for a litre of oil” in Mozambique

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“A family can trade their daughter, a minor, for a litre of oil” in Mozambique

1:48 CAT | 18 Dec 2018

In File CoM

Damaging practices and poverty are contributing to domestic violence and premature marriage, especially in the central and northern regions of the country, studies say.

Every year, hundreds of girls get married early and many women are raped. The fight against these phenomena is hampered by the poverty that affects a large portion of the population, as well as some aspects of Mozambican tradition.

Amade Casamo, a bricklayer, says that a combination of poverty and cultural values means that, in some circumstances, “a family can trade their daughter, a minor, for a litre of oil”.

Social activist Ana Rodrigues says that in many regions of Mozambique, “families, especially men, still resort to physical violence as a way of educating their children and womenfolk, a practice rooted in the past”.

Maria Luisa, a lawyer who works for the Women, Law and Development League, says it is “worrying that in the 21st century there are still men who beat their wives for everything and nothing. These men cultivate violence”.

The number of cases of violence reported in the country in recent months is estimated at 20,000, but the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Action, Cidália Chaúque, believes the real figure is much higher.

There is an understanding in the Assembly of the Republic that it is necessary to identify those parts of Mozambican tradition that are harmful to the harmonious development of children and women, “and eliminate them”.

Source: VOA Portugues