Aiding women in every way they can

Founder of the Women In Need Organisation, Dorothy Mabelebele hopes that many women will join her and empower others to build more women-led organisations.

In 2020 and at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, many people were advised to stay in their homes as a preventative measure to prevent the spread of the virus. However, this would see an already existing pandemic, gender-based violence (GBV), worsen during that time which left many vulnerable women and children in distress and no place to hide or escape. Police Minister Bheki Cele even announced that at least 2 230 GBV cases were reported during the first week of the national lockdown.

This frightening statistic is what encouraged Mabelebele to start the Women In Need Organisation as she saw work needed to be done to protect women. The organisation was launched in 2020 and have they since embarked on many initiatives, aiding women in every way they can.

“We have different activities such as workshops, seminars, roundtable discussions and GBV awareness campaigns. We also make donations, empower and equip women or girls to sustain themselves, even become human rights defenders,” she said.

The organisation also reaches out to mainly schools in Gauteng and launches programmes to help as many young girls as possible.

Just recently, they paid a visit to Tsholetsega Primary School in Kagiso donating sanitary towels. Girls were also taught about women’s physical and mental health.

Despite having a small team of just six members, Mabelebele is pleased with how far they have come.

“We have managed to put abused women in shelters, we also did a collection of free sanitary towels which reached over 200 girls in April this year. We also donated sanitary towels and belt reflectors to several schools while also partnering with the National Youth Coalition to fight for the rights of the youth.”

Mabelebele now hopes that her organisation will encourage other women to establish initiatives of their own as she believes women-led organisations are vital when it comes to women empowerment.

“We are living in a society where women are not empowered, equipped or educated. Inequality is still a problem in our society hence we formed this organisation where women are in a leadership role. Myself and others in the same position should now empower others.”

She believes that the number of oppressed women will decrease and that will bring change in society.
She added her work is a tribute to her mother and late grandfather as they have supported her vision by guiding her and being her biggest role models.

“My mother and my late grandfather are my inspiration. I have learned a lot from them hence I am the woman I am today. My late grandfather empowered everyone in their respective communities and my mother, as a single parent, sacrificed so much for me,” concluded Dorothy.