Violence against women (VAW) is one of the most pressing issues in Indonesia. A 2016 national survey on women’s life experience found that one in three women in Indonesia became a victim of physical or sexual abuse (UNFPA, 2017). In 2019, The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) documented 431,471 reported cases of violence against women, most of which were sexual abuse in personal and community spheres (Komnas Perempuan, 2020). Both government and non-governmental organizations have made several efforts to address this problem, including preventive and curative interventions. While most preventive interventions had involved men as one of the primary beneficiaries, very few curative interventions had been directed to assist men.
Rifka Annisa is one of the very few organizations that carry out curative interventions for both victims and perpetrators of violence. Rifka Annisa is a women’s crisis center located in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Each year, it handles more than 300 cases of violence against women, primarily dominated by domestic violence and sexual abuse. Initially, it only provides psychological and legal assistance for survivors as well as a safe shelter for survivors in a threatening situation. In 2004, Rifka Annisa expanded its counseling service to assist male perpetrators to change their abusive behaviors.
 |
| Source: http://rifka-annisa.org |
The male counseling program is part of Rifka Annisa’s strategies to address violence against women. It draws from Rifka Annisa’s experiences in dealing with hundreds of domestic violence survivors who refused to leave their abusive husband. Instead of applying for a divorce, most victims chose to keep their marriage due to different reasons such as economic dependence. As a result, the cycle of violence continued because the abusive husbands did not receive any intervention to change their offensive behaviors. Such a situation inspired Rifka Annisa to develop a program that can help families overcoming problems and eliminating abusive behaviors in their households.
The male counseling approach is relatively different from the females. It seeks to transform toxic masculinities’ beliefs and values into positive ones and help them learn anger management, interpersonal communication skills, and conflict resolution. A male counselor is assigned to each male client to make them more comfortable during the counseling process. The counselors help the clients reflect on their experiences of being men and discuss how it shapes their perspective and behaviors. Aditya Kurniawan, one of the male counselors, explained some of his clients’ characteristics. It includes having low self-esteem, feeling not-respected as the head of the household, and having traumatic experiences (Rifka Annisa, 2020). Although most men often hesitated to share their personal stories, some of them who did could adopt positive masculinities such as being more respectful and supportive partners.
In a lack of male involvement in gender and development initiatives, Rifka Annisa’s male counseling program can provide insights into how we can engage men in addressing gender-related issues such as violence against women. As Carmen et al. (2017) and Agarwal and Panda (2007) suggested, gender norms grounded in hegemonic masculinities are one of the main factors that perpetuate gender inequities. Assisting men to overturn their negative masculinities may help to dismantle unequal gender norms. Therefore, we should stop seeing men as the problem and start seeing them as part of the solution. It is time to dismiss the women-only approach and start involving men in gender and development works, particularly in violence against women interventions.
References
Agarwal, B., & Panda, P. (2007). Toward freedom from domestic violence: The neglected obvious. Journal of Human Development, 8(3), 359–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649880701462171
Logie, C. H., Daniel, C., Ahmed, U., & Lash, R. (2017). ‘Life under the tent is not safe, especially for young women’: Understanding intersectional violence among internally displaced youth in Leogane, Haiti. Global Health Action, 10(sup2), 1270816. https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2017.1270816
Komnas Perempuan. (2020). Catatan kekerasan terhadap perempuan tahun 2019 [PDF File]. Retrieved from https://www.komnasperempuan.go.id/file/pdf_file/2020/Catatan%20Tahunan%20Kekerasan%20Terhadap%20Perempuan%202020.pdf
Rifka Annisa. (2020). Konseling Bagi Pelaku Kekerasan; Jalan Lain Mengentaskan Kekerasan Berbasis Gender. https://rifka-annisa.org/en/news/blog/item/727-konseling-bagi-pelaku-kekerasan-jalan-lain-mengentaskan-kekerasan-berbasis-gender
UNFPA. (2017). 2016 national women’s life experience survey (2016 SPHPN): Study on violence against women and girls [PDF File]. Retrieved from https://indonesia.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/2016_SPHPN_%28VAW_Survey%29_Key_Findings1_0.pdf
Viah,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post and the different perspective the initiative took. Normally, women are at the epicenter of such issues and approaches to solving gender-based violence always view women as susceptible to be trained or changed or advised on what to do on such situations. Bringing men to the table and providing a listening ear to them can as well be one of the major solutions to problems of gender-based violence. Societies need to acknowledge that tackling gender issues not only involves providing education and awareness to women, but to men too. They often face a lot of backlash, with people judging them without even hearing them out- on what really happened, and why he behaves in that manner.
Thoughtful post there, Viah! Rifka Annisa's initiative to counsel perpetrators of violence and sexual abuse against women is an excellent step to solving the problem. Often we deal with the victims and leave the abusers who continue the action on many other people. Sometimes they also need help to realize how their actions affect other people. There are also instances where men do this, not because they feel like, but because of their personal problems. Providing a listening ear for men (and vice versa) and effective counseling can reduce, if not end, a lot of violence in our communities. Sometimes, dialogue works better than forceful activisms.
ReplyDeleteLutviah, thank you for this insightful post I enjoyed reading it. Violence against women is the key component that strengthens men’s authority and control over women throughout the world. In some way, most of us contribute to the culture that reinforces and promotes violence against women and girls. We have seen cases where we as females have told either our brothers or male friends to “be a man” in difficult situations. This destructive statement has been a problem in our society. Because it has pushed some men to hide their emotions so as not to be considered weak. We need more male counseling programs just like that of the Rifka Annisa organization to help address gender-based violence. It will also help men express their fears and emotions that cause them to react violently.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, it's uplifting to hear about work like this being done! This reminds me of the Bedford article "The Imperative of Male Inclusion" from Week 8. There Bedford notes the typical lack of male-male counseling, whether between members of the Global South or between Global North and Global South men. This is a nice exception to those unfortunate norms.
ReplyDeleteI thought my life had become meaningless and had nothing to offer anymore as I had HIV, the symptoms became very severe and bold which made my family and friends run away from me and abandoned me, so they won't get infected. I gave up everything, my hope, dreams, vision and job because doctors told me there's no cure. I consumed so many antiviral drugs, but they never cured me but hid the symptoms inside me, It was worse. I was desperate to find a solution to this horrible and deadly virus inside me. I made online research on herbal remedy for HIV/Aids cure when I came across testimonies of some people on how DR JAMES uses his herbal mix medicine to Cured them of MENINGITIS, DENGUE, SCHIZOPHRENIA, BIPOLAR DISORDER, ALZHEIMER'S DISEASES, UNDERACTIVE THYROID, HIV/AIDS. HERPES VIRUS. CANCER, ALS, STROKE, HEPATITIS B, DIABETES, FIBROID, MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES, LUPUS, SKIN CANCER.OVARIAN CANCER,GET YOUR EX BACK. I never believed at first and thought it was a joke but later decided to contact him on the details provided and when I messaged him we talked, and he told me on how his herbs and root medicine works Which was all okay with me. He sent me his herbal mix medicine and told me the usage and I should go for a test after 3 weeks of drinking the herbal medicine Within 7 days of his medications the symptoms disappeared and when I went for a test Lo and behold I negative by the Doctor Who tested me earlier. Thank you DR James for saving my life and I'll keep telling the world about you. If you're out there going through pains, rejection and facing any kind of health challenges Worry no more and contact DR James via.GREATCUREMAN@GMAIL.COM / INFO@DRJAMESHERBALMIX@GMAIL.COM He's a good man, and he will surely help you.
ReplyDelete