It is well comprehended that the nature of women’s social ties is of paramount importance in boosting high self-disclosure, intimacy and fraternity, and communal life. Yes, social support and association is fundamental to well-being which may make social support especially important and beneficial for women, girls, and children. Not only do women seek out social support more often than men but they are also more skilled at providing responsive social support to others and are more sensitive to the absence of strong social ties in general.
Cognizant of this fact, The Ethiopia Herald approached Martha Gobena, a sociologist who graduated from Addis Ababa University, to seek a professional point of view along this line.
She said, “Women are definitely more effective at providing social support, further augmenting a number of societal benefits as they have played pivotal roles in resolving conflicts and promoting peace in the country though there are gaps in due course of providing them with the place they deserve.”
According to Martha, developing awareness, understanding and shared values contributes more to community cohesion and equipping people to address areas of difference is significantly useful in coming up with a highly assimilated society.
As to her, strong, combined, and positive relationships can result when people move beyond contact and consensus to resolve conflicts and address social injustice. A fairer distribution of resources, capacity, and power is also needed to enable women and faith communities, particularly those from minority backgrounds, to fulfill their potential contributions. A climate of trust can be created through interaction that leads to the development of shared values arising from the resolution of real issues. Such relationships are needed between individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds as well as between social groups and statutory authorities, including the government.
“To reach a new equilibrium in social relations, deeper connections are needed within and between communities, based on the understanding that women and members of faith groups are not only able to contribute to social cohesion but also have the right to expect equity in their relationships and equal citizenship,” she opined.
It is well recognized that women can play a significant role in social cohesion by communicating and addressing queries as they are close to the posterity, who can be potential segments of the society in taking over the nation with its future.
Martha further elucidated that women can improve their communication skills using a variety of media outlets to express themselves, sharing ideas, and they can share their ideas, opinions, and experiences with a new audience, learning media skills as well as they can learn how media can be a tool for social cohesion, working in social causes if they are given ample opportunity in that regard. Because they are natural leaders in social work practice using their soft skills like empathy, resilience, and commitment, women have to be given the greatest place in social cohesion she said adding that they can work for invaluable causes such as education, gender equality, healthcare, and community development, too.
Martha also stated that social cohesion is when people feel like they are part of a community, participate in decision-making, and can be active citizens. It also involves the development of public policies and solidarity mechanisms between individuals, groups, territories, and generations.
According to Martha, some key components of social cohesion that have been run by women include—solidarity, trust, identity and belonging, cooperation, respect for diversity, social networks, citizen participation, and social justice.
“Women have been at the forefront of peace negotiations, advocating for their communities and pushing for diverse perspectives in decision-making. As far as education is concerned, women are often described as having qualities that support and promote peace, such as educating the next generation and passing on important values,” she added.
Martha said why it is repeatedly said that women play a decisive role in cementing social glue and women have been playing a role in social cohesion by increasing their communication skills, learning professional presentation skills, and conveying their ideas to a new audience.
“It is important to work for integrating women into policy and decision-making as they can be integrated into policy and decision-making in the security sector. However, women and girls are disproportionately impacted by gendered notions like gender-based violence, which are often associated with masculinity. Such a damaging tradition needs to be done away with,” she remarked.
Women have indeed come to the forefront of peace negotiations, advocating for their communities and pushing for the inclusion of diverse perspectives in decision-making processes.
True, she said, women are often described as having qualities that support and promote peace, such as educating the next generation and passing on important values. Understood based on these attributes, social cohesion must necessarily include gender equality. Inequality between women and men cuts across societies and is manifested in issues such as the feminization of poverty, gender-based violence, lower political participation by women, employment and wage inequality, female illiteracy, and the difficulty women have gaining access to full sexual and reproductive health. As gender inequality is not the product of specific situations but rather is rooted in the social structure itself and in the traditional division of labor and spaces between women and men.
True, women carry the responsibility to nurture their families and teach the next generation of children she said adding that women have shown remarkable resilience and leadership in conflict situations, working tirelessly to bring about peace and stability, even in the face of tremendous adversity. Women in Ethiopia amid challenges are now being given ample opportunities to come to the frontline in due course of nurturing the posterity, taking care of family, and working to bring about a society that is fond of ensuring community security and other related aspects. In so doing, society can be pulled towards a harmonious way of living as the inclusion of diverse perspectives in decision-making processes would be quite fruitful.
She said, “If handled well, women have played pivotal roles in resolving conflicts and promoting peace, ensuring security and instilling tranquility among the society. Obviously, women’s role in promoting social cohesion, peace, and conflict resolution is prettily critical everywhere. Their leadership, resilience, and dedication have significantly contributed to promoting peaceful coexistence, harmonious ways of living, and resolving conflicts. The government, civil society organizations, the public at large, and the international community should invest in promoting women’s leadership and participation in conflict resolution and peace-building efforts. Only then can sustainable peace and development be achieved.”
Unequivocally, one of the key benefits of human bonds is social support, or the ability to turn to others during positive and negative life events; and receive some form of aid or supportive response. Indeed, humans invest quite heavily into building strong friendships with non-kin, with the hope that should they fall upon bad times or encounter conflict in the future, they will still have someone invested enough in their welfare to provide support. The relationship between social support and well-being is a robust one. Social integration is generally associated with positive well-being outcomes, and in times of stress, social support can serve as a buffer against adverse physical and psychological outcomes. Social support similarly promotes well-being in the face of positive events when women are given a chance to bring about real change, Martha opined.
She further stated that some people may be unwilling to provide support due to low intimacy, lack of reciprocity norms, or the person in need not demonstrating enough active coping mechanisms or support seeking. People also intentionally seek out different relationships for different types of support.
Yes, she said a key value of communal society is preserving harmony and putting others’ needs above self-interest. Instead, the type of support considered to be most effective may vary, with those from harmonious cultures benefiting from instrumental, implicit, and unsolicited support, and those from individualist cultures benefiting from emotional, explicit, and solicited support, whereas emotional expression and self-disclosure leading to well-being thereby coming up with direct reliance on social support in the face problems.
In sum, women and social integrity are linked in a number of ways such as well-designed social protection systems as decisive steps that help reduce risks for women and girls via providing access to adequate protections, promoting shared responsibility for care, and booming social cohesion in all circumstances.
BY MENGESHA AMARE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 14 DECEMBER 2024
