By joining civil society, the media and the government during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence campaign, without forgetting LGBTQIA+ people, we are reflecting on our role in perpetuating this social evil.
At the second Presidential Summit on Gender Violence and Femicide (GBVF), held on November 1 and 2, President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged to eradicate this violence and reported on the steps taken to achieve it. We note that not much effort is being put into researching the unique experiences of people with disabilities, sex workers, LGBTQIA+ people, and migrants, who are disproportionately affected by GBV.
We cannot develop practical solutions against GBVF without considering the experiences of those who are further marginalized based on race, sexuality, class, disability, and nationality. With this in mind, we call for an intersectional approach to address and prevent high rates of GBVF. Intersectionality is a framework that analyzes the interconnectedness of different oppressive systems.
The theory, coined by legal theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw, claims that people are often disadvantaged when it comes to race, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and national origin. Crenshaw first used intersectionality to analyze and examine how black women were not addressed by US courts in gender-based violence cases.
Understanding intersectionality is essential to combating the biases that reinforce GBV, and a lack of attention prevents us from assessing the extent of GBV and our ability to assess how groups in different positions experience discrimination and violence.
GBVF does not exist in isolation
Negative attitudes such as homophobia, ableism, xenophobia and HIV stigma are some of the main barriers to achieving gender equality.
Consider the experiences of a disabled transgender woman who works as a sex worker. Where do you report a case of abuse when disabled women are not even believed to be sexual or desirable beings? How do you seek medical attention when transphobic nurses and doctors tell sex workers that they transmit HIV?
By understanding how violence is perpetrated and experienced, an intersectional approach can design and develop appropriate and context-specific responses when addressing GBV.
For example, understanding that women with disabilities face multiple marginalizations based on their disabilities does not necessarily ensure that policies respond to these intersectional needs. In our recent webinar on the intersections of GBVF and disability, a representative from the KwaZulu-Natal Association of the Deaf explained that understanding the multiple marginalizations disabled women face should lead to designing a service that specifically meets their needs, by engaging them in making decisions. -making processes, instead of speaking on their behalf and deciding what is best for them.
In keeping with this year’s theme of 16 Days of Activism, Socio-Economic Rights and Empowerment to Build Women’s Resilience to GBV, the government and private sector must take urgent action against discrimination, harassment and the unfair treatment of women and LGBTQIA+ people in the workplace. In addition, we call on all members of society to take responsibility for protecting adolescent girls from rape, which results in life-changing unwanted pregnancies.
Earlier this year, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority approved the dapivirine monthly vaginal ring as an HIV prevention option for women aged 18 and over. The ring made history because it is the first long-acting HIV prevention method created specifically for women.
It puts prevention in the hands of women, creates an enabling environment for them to exercise control over their own bodies, and can ensure that young women in all their diversities assert their sexual and reproductive health and rights. Women and young women in particular continue to bear a disproportionate burden of the global HIV epidemic, with nearly two-thirds of new adult infections in South Africa and throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Increasing your options for HIV prevention is essential to ensure a decrease in new infections, but by itself it will not end HIV. While this scientific breakthrough is another step in the right direction to find ways to reduce women’s risk of HIV infection, we cannot forget the real culprit behind girls’ and young women’s increased risk of HIV infection. : the patriarchy.
Scientific and medical interventions such as the HIV prevention pill, and now the dapivirine vaginal ring, are essential for HIV prevention, especially for girls and young women, but alone will not decrease HIV infections. We must address the social and behavioral factors that contribute to this, including condom negotiation, comprehensive sexuality education, and focusing and acknowledging girls’ and women’s sexual pleasure as a sexual and reproductive right. By acknowledging their pleasure, we also acknowledge their agency and see Black girls and young women as more than just HIV statistics.
check your privilege
It has become common for us to talk about women, girls and LGBTQIA+ people in the context of abuse and hate crimes. But the members of these groups are people who deserve to live safe, healthy, and fulfilling lives.
Our society is incredibly cruel to people who are powerless and do not live up to colonial and patriarchal standards. Imagine the world as an onion: the layers furthest from the center are seen as less and therefore disposable. Kgalemelang: From Awareness to Accountability seeks to sensitize communities to these deep-seated issues, as well as seek solutions while holding ourselves accountable.
Ahead of the 16 days of activism against GBV, Minister Bheki Cele reported an increase in violence against women and children in the second quarter of 2022. During this time and beyond, we must honestly reflect on who the 17,410 are victims who reported these crimes and what role we have played in exposing them to violence.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were systems of oppression. But we must all fight for fairness and justice by making sure that our views and actions do not harm others, particularly those who are vulnerable.
hare kgalemeleng
The South African Constitution guarantees everyone the right to security and liberty. This and the UN Declaration of Human Rights are the best examples of an intersectional framework in politics. However, social attitudes continue to keep systems of violence alive, at the expense of vulnerable members of society.
Soul City Institute’s GBVF Prevention Campaign, Kgalemelang: From Awareness to Responsibility, it is based on the belief that communities working together can overcome violence. It involves creating opportunities in our families and communities, and at the level of government for direct communication, understanding and reparation, and the realignment of power toward fairness, safety, respect, and pleasure.
Studies have shown that more than 60% of survivors choose not to report their abuse and participate in criminal legal proceedings due to a myriad of traumatic and discouraging barriers: the failure of the justice and health care systems, as well as the culture of silence and dismiss the survivors.
Furthermore, the idea that abusers are not “real men” but rather these mythical creatures that no one knows about, displaces accountability and is not an honest reflection of the scourge of violence in our country. We need to identify and speak out against perpetrators of violence, while questioning and listening to understand how our actions and attitudes have impacted those around us.
In her recent report to the UN, our board chair, Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, emphasizes that in order to achieve a comprehensive health response to violence, it is necessary to take an inclusive and non-binary approach to gender and GBV. .
After 27 years of activism and campaigning for health rights, the Soul City Institute certifies that intersectionality is a sustainable response to GBVF and we ask all communities, organizations and the government to join us in our efforts to protect the right to security and liberty for all. .
