The Women Aid Collective, WACOL, has inaugurated support groups to end violence, societal deprivations and sexual harassment of women and girls in homes, schools and communities in Abia State.

The allies were set up on Friday in Umuahia during a workshop organized by WACOL and Ford Foundation for men and boys in preventing gender-based violence.

The groups, which included the Faith organizations, the media and male secondary school students, were mandated to deepen the campaign to end the travails of Abia women and girls.

Delivering a lecture on the campaign, Mr Wilson Alamba said that age-long societal myth about male aggressiveness, male dominance and control, suppression of women’s rights in families were fueling crises in homes, sometimes leading to husbands beating up their wives.

He lamented that some men totally abandoned family roles like cooking, bathing of children and cleaning up of homes to their wives, on the claims that such roles were strictly reserved for women and female children.

Also speaking, another speaker, Victor Echebiri raised alarm about the rate of bullying, sexual harassment and exploitation going on in schools, homes and communities against women and girls.

He said that objectification was the root cause of many harmful practices, including online bullying, attack on female students, adding that victim-blaming created fears in the victims and their relatives.

Founding Director of WACOL, Professor Joy Ezeilo (SAN) was represented by Anulika Ezennia, Program Manager WACOL.

WACOL intensifies campaign against domestic violence in Abia