A man’s role as a head, a burden or a blessing? An exploration of the African and Christian perspectives on the conventional role of a male person

Abstract

In 2020, during a strict lockdown in South Africa, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country experienced an increase in gender-based violence (hereafter, GBV) cases perpetrated by men. Similar incidents occurred in August 2021, declared a women’s month in South Africa, as a tribute to the over 20,000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 to protest against the extension of pass laws. Many scholars have tried to make sense of this, giving rise to diverse views about the causes of this phenomenon. Other scholars argue that men behave in this manner because of the high unemployment rate, as many businesses are struggling, due to a loss of revenue, as a result of COVID-19, and the government’s lockdown measures. Other perspectives from different quarters indicate that GBV is due to stress and many other mental conditions, as a South African dwindling economy has impacted on families and caused losses of jobs and businesses closing. This is not the first time that the country has experienced these high cases of GBV. Over the years, men have and continue to commit heinous crimes and abuse each other, as well as women and children. This raises a question: Is this violence not a reaction by men to their role as heads of families and their socialisation by the African culture and Christian religion that teaches men to be heads of their households? Secondary data methods were applied in this research. The research found that men are under enormous pressure to meet society’s expectations of them. That pressure has turned them into monsters who are not coping and instead kill themselves, their loved ones, or resort to violence.