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"The white ribbon represents solidarity in speaking out against violence against women," he explained. "The red around it represents HIV/AIDS, and how the two, violence against women and AIDS, are linked."
As the director of the White Ribbon Campaign in Namibia, Simakumba knows first-hand that HIV/AIDS, which has infected nearly one in five Namibians, is certainly not gender blind.
The abuse of power and use of violence by men in sexual relationships results in Namibian women outnumbering men in HIV afflictions by roughly three to two.
Elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa the story is the same. Studies from Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa all indicate that the risk for HIV among women who have experienced violence may be up to three times higher than among those who have not.
Given the plight that women face in this dangerous era of HIV/AIDS, what's a man to do?
In the female-dominated world of gender advocacy, it is a question that is not often asked, says Simakumba.
Historically, women have dominated advocacy efforts on issues such as gender-based violence and gender equality.
But despite what has long been touted as the welcome need for male activists on gender issues, it seems that for many of the male activists in Namibia feelings of exclusion are the norm – feelings that may be replicated in gender movements around the world.
Here in Namibia on a University of Toronto internship on HIV/AIDS, a joint program with the Centre for International Health and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, I have met many men like Charles Simakumba who represent the small, but deeply determined male-led gender movement in Namibia.
Michael Conteh, a self-described feminist, gender researcher and lecturer at the University of Namibia, believes that many men who do adopt a feminist standpoint and are willing to advance the ideology of equality are ostracized, sidelined and left out.
"Many efforts made by feminists so far through women's conferences, policies and programs have not translated into concrete tangible change for women's lives in Namibia or elsewhere, simply for the fact that men are not engaged in the women's movement," argues Conteh.
Feelings of exclusion by some male gender activists may be rooted in their lack of membership in what Brian Klocke, of the National Organization for Men against Sexism, calls "the targeted group".
"Although I believe that men can be pro-feminist and anti-sexist, I do not believe we can be feminists in the strictest sense of the word in today's society. Men, in this patriarchal system, cannot remove themselves from their power and privilege in relation to women. To be a feminist one must be a member of the targeted group (i.e. a woman) not only as a matter of classification but as having one's directly lived experience inform one's theory and praxis," Klocke has said.
The claim that female-dominated gender movements have failed to engage men has resulted in the creation of several male-focused organizations in Namibia, such as Simakumba's White Ribbon Campaign.
The international White Ribbon Campaign is the largest effort in the world of men working to end violence against women. Started by Canadian activists such as former York University professor Michael Kaufman and New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton, the White Ribbon Campaign has spread to more than 35 countries around the world, including to Namibia in 2004.
WRC Namibia has so far trained 950 men in Namibia, including traditional leaders, youth, the police and even prison inmates convicted on crimes against women, on gender issues and the link to HIV/AIDS.
"As the gatekeepers in our still patriarchal society, we as men must be active partners in ensuring that gender equality becomes a reality, as well as being a target of discussion and advocacy," Simakumba says.
Despite such obstacles Simakumba and the other men hoping for a socio-cultural transformation on gender are still optimistic.
"Women are becoming empowered, and slowly, men are becoming informed. Men are willing to change in our country. It will just take some time, and a lot of open and honest discussion between the two genders."
Jasmeet Sidhu is a university student.
