Gender inequality is the denial of autonomy and equal rights to one group of people based on their gender (Bonvillian et al. 2013:42). It often occurs in societies where male dominance is persuasive. Men learn to disvalue women and to assume rights to control women's activity (Bonvillian et al. 2013:42). This essay will examine how women are subjected to gender inequality by forms of physical, verbal and emotional abuse. This essay will discuss the inequality women are subjected to through forms of abuse; and it will explain how women are accused of witchcraft in various ways. The case of Kepara Leniata will be used as evidence to support these claims of how women are accused of sorcery.
Women in Papa New Guinea are greatly subjected to gender inequality, because men in this culture have very little interest in sexuality and their sole concern is reproduction. For example, Guardian of the Flutes shows the lifestyle of the Sambian people in Papua New Guinea, in which Sambian society views females inferior to men and women are seen as being a form of pollution (Herdt 1994). Men have sexual relationships with women only for the purpose to procreate, and they do not engage in sexual activities with women for recreational purposes. Due to the assumption that men will become polluted by this, perhaps by temptation (Herdt 1994). This is a disadvantage for women because they are only seen as a sexual or reproductive property. Similarly, in western culture, the female reproductive processes is described in many problematic terms. For example, medical texts view menstruation as a failure, by describing it in negative terms such as debris, dying and wasteful (Martin, 1991:486). The egg and the sperm are also described in stereotypical feminine and masculine traits (Bonvillian et al. 2013:42). For instance, the egg is portrayed as passive and not moving, only transporting passively, in contrast, sperm are described as moving more swiftly, strong and active (Bonvillian et al.
