By Kini Nsom
A young woman, Sylvie Kandem, provoked wailings of disapproval and consternation from onlookers at the Yaounde University I on March 5, when she narrated a bitter ordeal with her husband.
The occasion was the launching of the activities marking this year's International Women's Day by the University women at the Amphitheatre 700.
A round table conference on the theme "Violence Against Women And Girls, Break the Silence, Act Now!" marked the occasion that was presided over by the Rector of the Varsity, Dr. Dorothy Limunga Njeuma.
Kandem was called up to recount her ordeal to the public. With a voice that had a quiver of remorse, the woman said her trouble began when she was forced into early marriage by her parents and warned her never to divorce with her husband.
She said her husband, Mr. Kandem, virtually used her as a tool for pleasure and a factory for children. The lady, who sobbed in the midst of her narration, said she gave birth to three children in three years without enough medical care, recalling that her monthly allowance was FCFA 10.000.
Mrs. Kandem said the greatest form of violence she suffered was that her husband never cared about driving to orgasm when they were having sex.
The crowd of onlookers rumbled with cheers for her boldness in Kandem's speech, but she remained unruffled and continued with her story. She said she strongly resisted drowning in frustration, fought hard, went to the university and later attended the Higher Teachers' Training College, ENS Yaounde.
Kandem said she is today a Mathematics teacher in one of the Government High Schools in Yaounde.While opening the occasion, Dr. Njeuma said the International Women's Day was instituted to raise awareness and stem the inequalities that exist between men and women.
She said the University women were hearkening to theme of the day by organising roundtable discussions on violence against women.She called on stakeholders to map new strategies to stem the tides of violence against women and urged that cases of all forms of abuses against women should be reported and punished.
Earlier, the chairperson of the organising committee of the occasion, Dr. Pauline Fotso, said by organising the occasion, the University women were making all the difference to prove that the International Women's Day is not only a day for women to wear uniform, dance, eat and drink.
She said they were using it as a day for reflection on how to stop all forms of violence against them.Meanwhile, speakers during the conference took turns to condemn all forms of violence against women.
One of the panellists, Dr. Rachel Bidja, held that violence against women was the greatest form of barbarism. She blamed male chauvinism for making women look like slaves while men walk tall as their masters.
Bidja said the violation of the economic, social and political rights of women constituted a form of violence that should be stopped. She called on the women to stand up, seize their rights and prove to the world that they are human beings and not objects.
Another speaker, Dr. Veronique Penlap, presented telling statistics about violence against women and girls in the world. She said women and girls were being raped and beaten by soldiers everywhere that there was war.
Meanwhile, Dr. Serah Anyang says sexual starvation, marital rape and incest are all forms of domestic violence against women. She urged the women folk to do everything possible not to look like sex objects in the eyes of men.
She frowned at immoral dressing in the society especially in the university milieu, as a setback that dims the esteem of women in the eyes of the men.
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