Men are under pressure to prove their masculinity by sleeping with as many women as they can, says Denise Namburete, director of Nweti, a health and development communication NGO in Mozamabique.
Denise was speaking to OneLove as part of a series where we interview representatives of the OneLove Campaign regional campaign partners.
The aim of the campaign partner series is to give you some insight into the issues that affect multiple concurrent partnerships in those countries.
Mozambique is surrounded by South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Tanzania
OneLove: What is the role of culture in love relationships in Mozambique?
Denise: Culture plays a great role in love relationships and in the prevalence of multiple concurrent partnerships. This influence can be remarkably observed in the way people are raised up and how social construction of sexual roles is undertaken.
For example, how boys and girls see masculinity and femininity, respectively, and the expectations that are built into the overall society about how men and women should fulfill the roles of their gender.
In terms of multiple concurrent partnerships, there is a greater openness and permissiveness for men to have many sexual partners. Men are also under social and peer pressure to prove their masculinity (as macho) through sex.
Women are expected to fulfill their social and sexual role of being wives and mothers.
OneLove: Why should traditional leaders in Mozambique support the OneLove Campaign?
Denise: Traditional leaders are the gatekeepers of culture and tradition and they enjoy a lot of acceptance and respect within communities.
If the endorsement comes from them and changes start happening within the communities they lead and influence, the OneLove messages will reach communities without too much resistance.
This will lead to people changing their behaviour ( by having one partner and being faifthful) and ultimately help to reduce the number of HIV infections in the country.
OneLove: Why should religious leaders in Mozamabique support OneLove campaign?
Denise: Religious leaders and institutions have strong, long-term and non-superficial relationships with their communities and engender commitment and trust perhaps to a greater extent than political institutions.
Therefore, religious leaders play an important role in re- enforcing group norms but also in serving as catalysts for change, when these norms are against God’s values.
In Mozambique, Christianity is the largest professed religion, apart from Islam. In the first, mutual faithfulness is one of the main commandments and OneLove campaign will somehow serve this purpose.
The second, although prescribes formal polygamy, it also refers to faithfulness among the spouses, taking into account the need of preventing open sexual networks, which is one of the features of MCP.
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You can also download a report about sex, gender and culture in Mozamabique. The report is called Multiple Concurrent Partnerships in Mozambique
To learn more about OneLove campaigns in other countries as part of this series, read:
