Children’s Bill brings battle of the sexes into House

PROPOSED legislation on the rights of children born out of wedlock continued to polarise the National Assembly yesterday, with lawmakers divided along sexual lines.

Male MPs felt that the Children’s Status Bill would discriminate against men, while their female counterparts asserted that the debate was being turned into a joke. The male MPs specifically raised objections to Section 11 of the Bill, which deals with extramarital births resulting from rape.The prospective law denies guardianship of such a child to a father convicted of rape.”This Bill is silent on rape committed by women.I want to know happens if a woman rapes and fall pregnant, will she be given guardianship of that child?” asked Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism Peter Iilonga.Deputy Minister of Prisons and Correctional Services, Jeremiah Nambinga, added: “Why this discrimination: are men being punished because they are men? …We have had many incidents where women raped men.”Nambinga wanted to know why the Bill denied guardianship to a mother who had attempted “to murder” a child by “dumping it in the dustbin” at birth.These comments drew fierce interjections from female lawmakers, with Nora Schimming-Chase, from the Congress of Democrats, complaining that “whenever the House discusses issues related to children, women are treated as jokes”.The Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Sport and Culture, Clara Bohitile, told fellow legislators that the law was being made in the interest of the children.The female MPs became incensed when Iilonga suggested that nowadays some women claimed to be raped only after failing to persuade men to give them money.This prompted a sharp protest from the CoD’s Elizabeth Amukungo, who said: “I think the honourable member is bordering on insulting women.”Schimming-Chase wanted to know whether Iilonga’s remarks were lawful.While most male MPs preferred to show their support for Iilonga’s and Nambinga’s arguments by nodding their heads with every statement they made, their female counterparts shook theirs in disagreement.Finally, the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Loide Kasingo, adjourned the debate until this afternoon.The Bill, introduced in Parliament a week ago, aims to level the playing field for children born out of wedlock and deals with matters related to their custody.The male MPs specifically raised objections to Section 11 of the Bill, which deals with extramarital births resulting from rape.The prospective law denies guardianship of such a child to a father convicted of rape.”This Bill is silent on rape committed by women.I want to know happens if a woman rapes and fall pregnant, will she be given guardianship of that child?” asked Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism Peter Iilonga.Deputy Minister of Prisons and Correctional Services, Jeremiah Nambinga, added: “Why this discrimination: are men being punished because they are men? …We have had many incidents where women raped men.”Nambinga wanted to know why the Bill denied guardianship to a mother who had attempted “to murder” a child by “dumping it in the dustbin” at birth.These comments drew fierce interjections from female lawmakers, with Nora Schimming-Chase, from the Congress of Democrats, complaining that “whenever the House discusses issues related to children, women are treated as jokes”.The Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Sport and Culture, Clara Bohitile, told fellow legislators that the law was being made in the interest of the children.The female MPs became incensed when Iilonga suggested that nowadays some women claimed to be raped only after failing to persuade men to give them money.This prompted a sharp protest from the CoD’s Elizabeth Amukungo, who said: “I think the honourable member is bordering on insulting women.”Schimming-Chase wanted to know whether Iilonga’s remarks were lawful.While most male MPs preferred to show their support for Iilonga’s and Nambinga’s arguments by nodding their heads with every statement they made, their female counterparts shook theirs in disagreement.Finally, the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Loide Kasingo, adjourned the debate until this afternoon.The Bill, introduced in Parliament a week ago, aims to level the playing field for children born out of wedlock and deals with matters related to their custody.