Congratulations, it’s a bouncing baby boy! 

This is always the expectant tone whenever a boy child is born especially in places like Africa. It’s a mark of pride to have your household flooded with boys who will grow up to become strong men. But how far is the world willing to go to defend the cause of the boy child who also suffers abuse today?

For several years, the urgent cry for the girl child has been massive due to the incessant cases of child labour, early marriages, trafficking and rape. 

The big question is what about the boy child? While the whole world seems engrossed with the women and girl movement which without a shadow of a doubt is key however, these boys need a voice raised on their behalf. 

Statistics show that in every three persons who suffer the violence of any kind, one is sure to be a male. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7260512/

Furthermore, about 51% of women can open up about this, 31% of men keep silent for reasons of shame and embarrassment. More boys are steady victims of violence today, and this calls for a re-evaluation.  So, more than ever the call is impertinent for all advocates to stretch out the cause and lend a helping hand to the safety of boys in every society.

While UNICEF, Save the Children and Action against Hunger are only but a few of the organizations fully engaged in the survival and safety of children, more engagement is required and the cause for the girl child needs to extend tremendously to the boy child to project towards a safer and proper environment especially for the girl children and the women in the future. A well-trained male with a good childhood will be of good behaviour to the female gender because he has been thought to be respectful.

A man is who he is today because of the boy he was yesterday, his childhood and the guardians he grew under. So, the mission to raise real men starts from childhood.

As parents or guardians be curious about;

• What your boy likes to watch on T.V or computer devices or what kind of books he reads. Every 8 in 10 boys always get curious about the opposite sex. This is where the desire to watch pornographic videos and read all kinds of porn magazines begins. This is where an adult figure needs to be present.

• Who are his friends and have I met any of them? In fact, does he have a girlfriend? It’s not about shielding him away from making new friends or any connection with the opposite sex, it’s about making him feel free to talk about these things so you know where and when as an adult, you need to come into the picture. 

When a guardian is observant, they know all about their child’s moves and decisions. His mood, what he can and can’t do and above all, they know his strengths and weaknesses.

Bottom-line, the onus is on all parents, guardians, organizations and societies to strive for a reduced rate of gender violence, rape and trafficking cases. One of the biggest ways to approach this is by raising boys with the right morals and ideals. It’s fighting to build a solid and fruitful global society.