The recent rapes, abuse and merciless killing of women should be a wake-up call to the entire nation – and the people to blame are parents.
The way we bring up our boys goes a long way towards making them partners who will respect women.
As parents we create the wrong impression when we tell boys that they should always be in control.
We also make them believe they are strong and must solve any problem. We make them believe they are superior to women.
Things change every day and the economic dynamic is the latest change.
Well-paying jobs no longer require masculinity.
Women also have financial power and access to opportunities, which make them capable of making decisions in relationships.
This tends to confuse men as they were raised to believe they should be the breadwinners and make decisions.
As parents, we need to teach our boys to accept transformation and allow them to show emotions.
We need to teach them to accept rejection.
Men are human beings too. Let’s give them an ear when they feel frustrated.
The government should also be blamed for only preaching about women empowerment, as if men don’t need to be empowered.
The killing of women should be condemned and those who do it must be ashamed of themselves.
But we should stop putting unnecessary pressure on young men.
Parents should change the way they raise their children.
Musa Dlamini, Polokwane
You are right. Any adult who is a parent of boy children should heed your advice. The raising of the boy child has to be examined. It cannot be that we still have boys who grow up to think and believe women are nothing but objects. It has to stop. The home is a good starting point to plant such teaching. This letter wins R200.– Editor
