THEMbos Development Interventions & Assessments (CC)

Modernizing without Westernizing: Reinventing African Patriarchies to combat the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Africa

Authors: Christopher Isike and Ufo Okeke Uzodike

2008

Abstract

This paper argues that men remain vital to any effort to curb the HIV and AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa given the often critical roles they play in spreading the HIV virus. Accordingly, it explores the plausibility of reconstructing and modernizing contemporary African masculinities within an African cultural prism to progressively engage men in combating HIV and AIDS in the continent. This modernization would require a cultural paradigm shift from the present worldview of masculinities that view women as sub-humans to one that acknowledges them as part of a whole web of interdependent relationships without which their own (men’s) existence is empty (ubuntu).

Therefore, the paper proposes three broad strategies for reinventing African patriarchies to progressively engage men in efforts to curb the HIV and AIDS epidemic: one, a cultural re-enlightenment and re-socialization of men to abhor the socio-cultural worldviews and images that undergird their dangerous behaviors and actions; two, using gender-friendly men to encourage other men on behavioral change aimed at fostering preventive behaviour like faithfulness as well as caring for the infected; and three, co-parenting, (the rearing of children on an equal basis with women) in order to dismantle the basis of patriarchy in society and in the process enthrone a new kind of African civilization. These have the utility not only of meeting African men at their own cultural levels, but also enabling them to rightly perceive and accept gender equality actions in post-colonial Africa as innately African rather than as a Western imposition.

Introduction

Studies have shown women and men in Africa experience HIV and its effects differently with women being disproportionately affected and dying from AIDS more than men (Leclerc-Madladla, 2001; UNAIDS, 2001; Vetten & Bhana, 2001). For example, among young adults (20-24 years) in South Africa, 24.5% of women are infected compared to 7.6% infection rate for men (Pettifor et al, 2004). According to the SA National Strategic Plan (NSP) document, women accounted in 2006 for approximately 55% of HIV-positive people in the country; the age group 25-29 are the worst affected with prevalence rates of up to 40%. Expectedly, while much of the scholarship on the epidemiological impacts of HIV and AIDS as well as international and national policy interventions efforts have focused on, and underscored, the vulnerability of women and children (Vetten & Bhana, 2001; Lawson, 1997), not much focus has been given to reconstructing the role of men in the HIV and AIDS response. Men play a significant role in the spread of HIV; this is not only because many are engaging in irresponsible sexual and social behaviors but also because it puts men and women, and the society in general, in a position of vulnerability (Blackwell, 2005). Therefore, understanding the evolving nature and characteristics of African patriarchies and the new masculinities they spew (that is, the high risk sexual behavior, alcohol and drug abuse, and sexual and other forms of violence against women) should be an integral part of every international and national policy response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic.

Given this context, this paper seeks to explore the plausibility of retooling contemporary African masculinities within an African cultural prism to progressively engage men in combating the HIV and AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. It highlights and characterizes African masculinities based on evolving patriarchies from the pre-colonial through to the post-colonial eras showing how these have changed over time due particularly to the influence of capitalism. Thereafter, the paper explores the utility of reinventing African masculinities to progressively recruit men in the HIV and AIDS response without necessarily importing western cultural worldviews wholesale. This is reinforced by the fact that western feminism does not exist in a socio-cultural vacuum; rather, it is located within the western cultural experience and perspectives, which might not fit into African cultural realities. Indeed, as Postmodernist feminist scholars contend, ignoring the differences amongst women and their global experience of social, cultural and economic oppression amounts to imposing a false notion of homogeneity among women and perpetuating a false uniformity on reality (Barrett, 1992; Eisenstein, 1989; Molyneux, 1985). This too should apply to men.

The evolving nature of African patriarchies and masculinities

'An indigenous and inherent ‘tradition’ and ‘culture’ of patriarchy has been implicated as the main source of the masculinization of African societies (Walker, 1991; Hassim, 1993). This sweeping proposition has tended to portray African societies as deeply patriarchal and African men as irredeemable masculinists with no regard for women. Consider for instance the implications of the following statement from Dessine L'Espoir in a write-up about their “Know Your Body Support Programme” in South Africa:

'Although South Africa has one of the most affirming constitutions in the world, gender equality is far from a reality. 60% of all AIDS cases are women and gender bias remains a reality due to economic dependency that stems from a traditional patriarchy and an acceptance of violence against women'. http://www.dessinelespoir.org/projects/knowyourbody/index.html (Accessed 15 July 2006)

These kinds of generalizations do not take cognizance of the evolution of African patriarchies over time nor do they echo the capitalist influence in transforming patriarchies and constructing masculinities in the continent. Indeed, as in most states of Europe, Asia and the Americas, most African societies have deep patriarchal roots that predate the capitalist mode of production. However, scholars who have written on African patriarchy have not brought to light the nature and features of these patriarchies with regards to how they benefitted women. We shall refer to them collectively as the “old” patriarchies of African societies. As we will show, the old African patriarchies are different from the “new” African patriarchies or “neo-patriarchy”, which have been wrought on the continent by the forces of imperialism and colonialism. These new patriarchies are what subsist in African societies today. By not making the distinction between old and new patriarchies in Africa, most scholars distort the reality of patriarchy in the continent. This distortion has laid a false premise for understanding it and has had an attendant negative effect on the response of African men to affirmative policies on gender balancing, which manifests sometimes in harmful masculine sexual behaviors and male violence (dangerous masculinity) that make women more vulnerable to the HIV virus and, in extreme cases, deliberately infecting some women (Leclerc-Madladla, 1997) or passion-killing (Sowetan, 23 August, 2000).

The phenomenon of dangerous masculinity is particularly glaring in Southern Africa, for instance, where men generally oppose gender equity policies and actions based on their belief that ‘African culture’ does not permit women to be active in the public space nor be equal with men for that matter. For example, the opposition of Zulu men to gender equity action based on cultural misunderstanding is palpable in common arguments like “in Zulu culture women are inferior to men, and must never contest with men in politics” and “Politics is culturally a man’s domain.” However, today’s Zulu men are often ignorant of the fact that the transformation from agrarian patriarchy to capitalist patriarchy impacted on gender identities and relations which, though ever changing, has remained dominant in perceptions and attitudes of men towards women in contemporary times. For example, according to Sadiki (2001), violence against women in the Great Lakes region, and elsewhere in Africa is an invention of modernity, “a new phenomenon that is both a novelty and serious contradiction of the values linked to respect for human life and for women, seen as the provider of life in pre-colonial African societies” (Sadiki, 2001: 445-446).

Indeed, capitalism and economic exploitation across Africa by the colonialists relied on gender and other social cleavages for its maintenance and sustenance with concomitant effects for gender relations. Therefore, there is a need to interrogate critically the culture men refer to when they say things like “in our culture, women are inferior to men” or the culture that justify risky sexual behaviors and other forms of violence against women. Such misconceptions and misrepresentation of African culture and its patriarchies provide the operational raison d'être of contemporary male violence and negative masculinities men now freely employ to perpetuate women’s vulnerability to the HIV virus. This section briefly outlines an overview of African patriarchies showing how they have changed from their pre-capitalist forms with implications for contemporary masculinities.

Gender relations in pre-colonial African societies

Patriarchy existed in diverse African societies in varying forms before colonialism. However, in general terms, it was a kind of patriarchy that respected women and retained significant socio-cultural and economic spaces for them. In the economic realm, for example, Gordon (1996: 29) contends: “production and consumption were centered in the extended family where both men and women had vital productive roles in predominantly agricultural or pastoral societies”. Therefore, while women’s condition and position in various pre-colonial African societies obviously varied from one society to another according to the kinship structures and the role women played within the economic structure of each society, women commonly held complementary positions to men, although patrilineal and patriarchal kinship structures dominated most African societies. Women in most societies often controlled a range of economic activities. For instance, there was a distinct sexual division of labour, with certain crops, handicrafts, animal husbandry activities, and other tasks assigned to both women and men (Gordon, 1996: 29). Although she argues that elder males tended to have more control over productive assets than women as well as power over the labour and produce of women within the household, April Gordon concurs that “women often had enormous autonomy that helped to dilute tendencies toward male dominance”, such that in some societies, they had dual authority structures which allowed them control over their own spheres of activity as well as a measure of economic independence and control over productive assets (Gordon, 1996: 29; Okonjo, 1976). Besides, this male dominance was also mediated by age as elder women, just like elder men, within these societies were privileged over other younger members of society based on recognition of women’s dual roles as producers and reproducers. Amongst the Yoruba society in Nigeria, elder women had opportunities to participate in other economic activities such as manufacturing and trade. The responsibility of a woman to provide for her family included providing the material resources for such care. Women believed that providing such resources met their responsibility as women and citizens. Their society considered the work the women did complementary to the work of men, and some women achieved impressive status in the economic and social realms of Yoruba life (Awe, 1977).

Socially, women had considerable value as they were a symbol of fertility and, as such, a guarantee of children. Kinship groups, whether patrilineal or matrilineal, expected their married women to give birth to children to ensure the future of the group. This in no small measure underscored the importance of women in these societies. As with the family and economic structures, African traditional religions conceived the position of women as complementary to that of men even though, as aforementioned, men were believed to be superior to women and, to some extent, in control of women.

Politically, pre-colonial African patriarchies provided spaces for women to participate in the public arena contrary to formal and circumscribed Western-invented history which perpetuate the view that before colonialism African women did not participate in governance, existed only in shadowy spheres and meekly accepted whatever their male lords and masters directed (Nzeogwu, 2000). No doubt, as Coquery-Vidrovich (1994: 34) notes: “men certainly asserted their political supremacy, but women always retained opportunities for power.” For example, in very patrilineal societies such as the Sherbro and Mende in Sierra Leone (West Africa), Ganda in Uganda (East Africa) and the Zulu Kingdom in South Africa (Southern Africa), there is evidence of women playing active roles and having a fair share in politics. In diverse states such as Nigeria where there were variants of centralized and decentralized pre-colonial political systems, Igbo women groups such as the Umuada constituted a social base of political power and also served as checks on the abuse of power by the Council of Elders. According to Ifi Amadiume, indigenous Igbo society was based on strict sexual dualism, whereby women’s economic and political organizations were separate from those of men (Amadiume, 1987: 89).

In essence, pre-colonial African women held complementary, rather than subordinate, positions to men in their societies and played far more important roles in the economies of their societies, where many were involved in farming, trade, and craft production, than previously conceived in Europe or America (Terborg & Rushing, 1996). Although men appropriated political power and were dominant in most of these societies, power was generally based on seniority rather than gender. The absence of gender in the pronouns of many African languages and the interchangeability of first names among females and males strikes Sudarkasa (1996) as a further relation of the social de-emphasis on gender as a designation for behaviour. For instance, amongst the Igbo of Nigeria, you would typically hear a woman being addressed as “Ngozi, daughter of Okonkwo and the wife of Okoli” instead of “Mrs Okoli” which effectively denies Ngozi of her personage and that of her parents. Men and women co-existed in these societies, not as equals though, but as complementary subjects living in a mutual world of responsibility sharing, where differences were appreciated and celebrated. Masculinities were understood in ways that regarded and respected women, where it was a virtue to protect women, not just in ways that perhaps suggested that women were weaker beings needing men’s protection, but out of consideration that women were equally deserving of deference and honor with natural abilities and powers to produce economically and reproduce existentially. Men did not, for instance, dictate the lifestyles of women nor attempt to control their fertility. The gradual subordination and eventual objectification of African women started with European contact through the transatlantic slave trade and culminating in the colonial interruption of the continent’s socio-cultural existence which also transformed existing economic modes of production and their accompanying gender relations.

Gender relations in colonial Africa

A plethora of literature by scholars of different ideological nuances exists on the negative economic, political and social impacts of colonialism on Africa (Fanon, 1967; Rodney; 1972; Amin, 1972; Chazam et al, 1999; Betts, 1998). However, according to Chinweizu (1987), the most damaging impact of colonialism on Africa was not economic or political but rather psychological, which connotes a colonization of the mind that the African is yet to break from (see also The Economist, 2000). A cultural persecution of Africa’s traditional value systems and beliefs was a logical strategy the colonialists used to impose and perpetuate their own worldviews (Fanon, 1967; Chinwezu, 1987). Although Africa provided Europeans with a source of vital raw materials, it represented for them the home of oafish people on whom they could impose their views and whom they could exploit without the qualms dictated by their Christian assumptions and avowed values. In this way, colonialism undermined and eroded African socio-cultural values by weakening and distorting them and by destroying the self-confidence and the worldviews of African people. Not surprisingly, gender relations were affected as part of that process. For example, with the creation and incorporation of African states into the international economic system as suppliers of raw materials, new patriarchal conceptions of the appropriate social role for women dictated by colonial administrators and missionaries changed the position of women in economic and social endeavours by confining them not only to stipulated and marginalized roles in the emerging economies as secretaries, nurses, and housewives but also in the mainstay agricultural sector as beat players.

And so began the psychological reorientation of African societies towards new forms of patriarchies, which further subordinated and marginalized women even within the home. Males began to dominate the cultivation of cash crops for the international market and confined women to the growing of food crops, which received lower returns. By targeting men as cash crop farmers, bureaucratic efforts to improve agriculture further encouraged the separation of economic roles of men and women that had previously complemented each other. The importing of cheap manufactured goods from Europe, and later from Japan, led to the decline of craft industry, except for a limited range of luxury goods, which in some regions affected the significant proportion of women engaged in such manufacture. Thus, the creation of the colonial economy tended to marginalize the structural position of the majority of women.

In sum, colonialism disrupted the traditional systems of production in pre-colonial societies and, in so doing, reinforced existing systems of social inequality by introducing oppressive forms of social stratification through the instrumentation of the colonial state. The resultant loss of power for women have been exploited by men, who in an attempt to maintain the new privileges often assume hegemonic and or dangerous masculinities which are usually justified by a misconception or misrepresentation of African culture.

Gender relations in post-colonial Africa

The post-colonial African state inherited the colonial conception of statehood and its accompanying patriarchal ideologies at independence and these have endured since then. These new capitalist patriarchies have intensified the hegemonic masculinisation of the public arena leading to the feminization of poverty, illiteracy and disease. The feminisation of HIV and AIDS is indeed a consequence of the masculinisation of the public sphere based on a distorted understanding of Africa’s culture and old patriarchies. Today, apart from Rwanda (49%), South Africa (36%), and Mozambique (31%), that have surpassed the 30% critical mass threshold set by UN Resolution 1325, women’s representation in national parliaments across Africa is about 15% on average . Women play a minimal role in politics generally despite their 50% average population stake in the continent and their disproportionate vulnerability to the effects of its underdevelopment. While women’s status generally improved (at least at the formal level) in the last decade of the 20th century through increased political representation that has brought issues of concern to women to the fore, these gains have been blurred by continuous marginalisation at the informal levels of relations with men and society in general. Informal barriers to gender equality, because they occur in the subtle realm of social relations between men and women where ‘traditional’ male authorities continue to dominate, are actually more difficult to overcome as they cannot be simply legislated away. Unfortunately, their impact, not only on the deliberation processes of governance but also in the application of policy, actually does impede and undermine women’s participation in the social, political and economic life of their societies (Fraser: 1997; Robinson: 1995). This compromise on the quality of women’s political participation have been traced to informal-level discrimination against women politicians by their male counterparts through the use of invectives, labeling, innuendoes and sex-role expectations to undermine their (women) authority . Impliedly, until men are re-socialized towards recognizing and accepting the place of women as important parts of a whole without which life is incomplete, formal approaches to engendering development based on equality and justice will continue to grasp at straws. Perhaps, reconciling the cultural rights of the past with the liberal freedoms of the modern age will help both men and women in Africa to peacefully negotiate the much needed change in gender relations today.

Modernizing African patriarchies within an African cultural context

African patriarchies have not remained static since their intensive contact with European patriarchies as far back as the 15th century. They have evolved into different forms since then through to the present post-colonial era. It is therefore not out of place to suggest that patriarchies are malleable and can be reinvented to meet particular needs and requirements. Since patriarchy, whether African or Western, does not exist in a social vacuum, the reinvention of African patriarchies to meet the expectation of responsible masculinities must be within an African cultural worldview. This does not in any way imply a return to out-dated traditional patriarchal practices/norms that emasculate or properticise women. Rather, it is an inward-looking approach that seeks a convergence of whatever is good about Africa’s rich cultural past with whatever is good about western culture; one that seeks a cultural understanding of Africa with a view to reviving and creating an authentic African personality and masculinity. As Murithi (2006: 14) notes, in reinventing African patriarchies, “we have to create a framework that is a hybrid between indigenous African traditions and modern principles to ensure the human dignity and inclusion of all members of society – women, men, girls and boys…to create something that is uniquely African”. And this implies a combination of “present notions of gender equality with progressive indigenous norms and principles to create something that is uniquely African” (Murithi, 2006: 14). This is what the whole idea of modernizing without westernizing is about; a combination of African tradition and Western modernity to recreate functional masculinities that could be utilized, in the context of this paper, in combating the HIV epidemic in Africa.

As aforementioned, men and women in pre-colonial African cultures and societies held positions in the social, economic and political milieu and co-existed as complementary subjects living in a mutual world of responsibility sharing, where differences were appreciated and celebrated. The gender worldview that underpinned and defined masculinities in this era was one that saw women as spiritual and earthly leaders with awesome abilities and powers to produce economically and reproduce existentially. This kind of attitude would have informed men’s responses if pre-colonial societies had encountered the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Men would have taken responsibility not only by avoiding reckless sexual behaviors but also by providing emotional support and care for women and children infected and dying from the epidemic. These are virtues that flowed from an inner recognition and acceptance of the role and essence of women as partners in progress and in reaffirming their (men’s) existence. These positive virtues can be retrieved from indigenous African culture and enlisted alongside positive attributes of contemporary western culture in the bid to combat the HIV epidemic.

Across different parts of pre-colonial Africa, the dominant cultural worldview that defined social, economic and political existence was underpinned by a communal ideology that was rooted in ubuntu. The meaning and practice of ubuntu in Southern Africa can be inferred from a Zulu maxim: umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, which literarily translates to “a person is a person because of other people.” This underscores the collectivism and agency of people as the means and end of development. Ubuntu captures the human essence of the African personality (male or female) and traditional society built around familyhood and which, according to Julius Nyerere, was an attitude of mind that was not taught but lived (Nyerere, 2000: 151-158). In conceptualizing ubuntu, Desmond Tutu (1999: 35) observes:

'a person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good; for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes with knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed, or treated as if they were less than who they are'.

Clearly, this was not a worldview that ill-treated, neglected or humiliated women since an injury to one was an injury to all. Men did not need to feel threatened by women as each complemented the other in ways that allowed them to function cohesively as a social unit. This is tantamount to Lederach’s (2005) worldview of peace-building which advocates the centrality of relationships in an ever-evolving web of social interactions, where every member is a part of the web and plays his/her role based on a moral understanding of their personal responsibility and acknowledging relational mutuality. According to him, “the centrality of relationship provides the context and potential for breaking violence, for it brings people into the pregnant moments of the moral imagination: the space of recognition that ultimately the quality of our life is dependent on the quality of life of others” (Lederach, 2005:35).

Therefore, African men need a cultural paradigm shift from the present worldview of masculinities that view women as sub-humans to one that acknowledges them as part of a whole web of interdependent relationships without which their own (men’s) existence is empty. African men need to reconnect with ubuntu -- the moral imagination and understanding of self and other; of taking personal responsibility for their every action and acknowledging the mutuality of human existence. Morrell (2001: 30) suggests that a moral understanding of humanity based on the principle of ubuntu (the cornerstone of Desmond Tutu’s work as chairperson of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission) was one of the positive fall-outs of the TRC for gender relations; “for many, acceptance and forgiveness have been incorporated into new self-understandings of what it is to be a man (sic)”. It is this kind of mental consciousness or attitude that is needed as we seek to emplace sustainable peace and development based on gender equity and justice in all parts of our continent. African men must understand that taking on preventive and caring responsibilities in the face of HIV and AIDS, and generally supporting notions of gender equality will serve to enhance the quality of their own lives since in the long run “men are men because women are and women are women because men are”.

Broad strategies for progressively engaging African men in combating the HIV and AIDS epidemic

Lillian Musang’u, a Malawian social activist encapsulated the significance of involving men in efforts to combat the HIV and AIDS epidemic in these words at the World Social Forum conference in 2007;

'As long as our men are not part of the war, then we should forget about ending HIV /AIDS infection and the violence that comes with it'. (www.ipsnews.net/news.asp accessed 12/01/08)

She underscores the imperative of a simple but probably elusive strategy for combating HIV and AIDS in Africa -- actively engaging men in the struggle (Taylor, 2007; UNAIDS, 2006). This paper contends that with their tendency to perpetuate the HIV and AIDS epidemic through irresponsible sexual and relational behaviors, dangerous masculinities are often a result of misguided conceptions of ideal manhood. Therefore, men should not only be involved in efforts to curb the pandemic but also should be re-socialized to abhor the socio-cultural worldviews that undergird their behaviors and actions. This re-socialization should also aim to identify and promote positive masculine virtues and attributes that could be utilized in preventive and caring strategies to contain the epidemic. Broadly speaking, the following strategies are recommended:

Cultural re-enlightenment of men

According to famous African-American historian and writer, Lerone Bennett:

'Men act out of their images, they respond, not to the situation, but to the situation transformed by the images they carry in their minds. In short, they respond…to the ideas they have of themselves in the situation. The image sees… the image feels…the image acts, and if you want to change a situation you have to change the image men have of themselves and of their situation' (Lerone Bennett in Chinwezu, 1987: 211)

As we have argued, the image contemporary African men have of themselves as men are distorted images of pre-colonial African masculinities. The original cultural images of manhood have been corrupted over time by the external influences of imperialism, colonialism and now globalization. Therefore, as Bennett and Chinweizu have argued, to change the current situation of hegemonic and dangerous masculinities in Africa, African men would need to be mentally decolonized of the patriarchal ideology that inform the conception of women as inferior beings. Through deliberate and systematic projects of cultural engineering (employed using institutions – churches, mosques, traditional organizations), African men can be re-enlightened culturally to see that embracing gender equality is truly African. By identifying and promoting progressive virtues of masculinities, African men are returning to their roots while also laying the foundation for safer, healthier, and more peaceful and productive African communities. According to Nomundo Mseleku , there is need to encourage traditional practices like male circumcision which was a veritable instrument of transmitting progressive masculine behaviour amongst Xhosa men in South Africa as it was used to teach young boys to respect and have regard for women and to be socially responsible in their sexual relations with women (Interview with Mrs. Mseleku, 28/01/08).

Using gender friendly men to encourage men on behavioral change

There is a need for African men already involved in gender equality advocacy work to forge collaborations and alliances between themselves and with HIV infected men aimed specifically at encouraging other male folks to change their general attitudes and behavior towards women. This will help to teach and foster preventive behaviour like faithfulness and commitment to one spouse or partner, practice of safer sex (condoms) as well as post-infection behaviour like voluntary testing, disclosure and caring for women who are already infected. Men’s organizations like Papa Plus in the Democratic Republic of Congo , the Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) and the South Africa Men’s Forum , should be replicated all over the continent to help involve all men in combating HIV starting with attitudinal change. In the same vein, since traditional rulers’ councils across Africa are male dominated, these councils should be enlisted in the fight to revive positive indigenous cultural values that would make men more responsible partners of societal progress.

Co-parenting

The family is the building block of society; therefore, the quality of people (men and women) a society has is dependent on the character of childrearing. Impliedly, the origin of patriarchy can be traced to childrearing in varied cultural and social contexts. According to Balbus (1987), the pre-oedipal experiences of a male child in “mother -dominated” childrearing presuppose him to assume oppositional stances and withdrawal attitudes towards their mothers in the absence of a parent of his gender (father) who he can identify with (Balbus, 1987: 110-127). This scenario is aggravated by the fact that in mother-dominated childrearing, the mother is also the ‘first overwhelming adversary’ of the will of the child, the constant representative of authority which he always confronts, eventually loathes and must resist and overcome if the he is to become a ‘man’. This hatred of the mother is subsequently “transferred to all those who came to represent her, i.e. to women in general. And the exclusion of women from positions of authority outside the family reflects the terror of ever again experiencing the humiliating submission to the authority of the mother within it” (Balbus, 1987: 113). Balbus therefore contends that since the mother is both the source of the satisfaction and the frustration of the imperious needs of the infant, “co-parenting is the key that can unlock the possibility of a society in which the nurturance and caring that have thus far been largely restricted to the arena of the family come to inform the entire field of human interaction” (Balbus, 1987: 119).

African men should be socialized to get involved in the rearing of their children on an equal basis with women in order to dismantle the basis of patriarchy in society and in the process enthrone a new kind of civilization; a civilization without domination where the moral imagination that enables ubuntu will guide the interaction between men and women; where men will feel free to openly discuss their sexuality with women and feel the need to identify with rather than oppose their feminine side as a way of reaffirming their masculinity. This is quite imperative considering that gender equality is pivotal to containing the spread of HIV (Kaufman, 2001).

Conclusion

Men remain vital to any effort to combat the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Africa. Accordingly, their images of contemporary manhood which inform their conception of women as inferior beings, and which underlie irresponsible sexual behaviour need to be transformed in line with Bennett’s postulation on social change. Such transformation should occur within an African cultural context as all masculinities and femininities are located in cultural worldviews. In turn, this conduces to a cultural reinvention which, apart from meeting African men at their own cultural levels, enables them to rightly perceive and accept gender equality in post-colonial Africa as innately African rather than as a Western imposition.