We need to take a serious look at gender justice in SA

We are moving further away from gender justice.

If there was ever any confusion as to the importance of the #TotalShutdown movement, its relevance and the need for women to declare that their bodies will not be crime scenes, one just has to remove from their eyes the rose-tinted glasses one views society through.

We need to remove the responsibility from the victim and place it back in the hands of the transgressors.

Society has shielded the perpetrators from having to take responsibility for their actions.

Why has it come down to women having to shout “no”, as if there was ever a time they gave consent for the maiming, torturing and rape that escalate on a daily basis?

It is not the responsibility of women to redress this societal scourge but the responsibility of those who have entrenched the cycle of abuse.

This, however, is not about apportioning blame and responsibility. It is about the distortion of a balance in society.

A man abuses his wife – be it emotionally, physically or even sexually. The immediate course of action is that she flees.

As a society, we need to question that, in the leaving of the abused, can it not be construed as a victory for the abuser, particularly in a situation of no marital contract?

What measures are there in the protection of rights where no contract exists in a time where cohabiting has become the norm?

An honest examination of our society tells a story of a gender-biased dependency that has been created.

The birth of children and the educational needs of children are just some of the reasons why women become financially dependent on men.

With a gender-skewed employment rate, re-entering the workforce is in itself a mountain to climb.

What about the justice system, you ask. When abusers are given such lenient sentences that they are released even before the ink used for their judgments has dried, what is the point?

We need to take a serious look at this issue in a country where we are moving further and further away from the moral compass.

Kekeletso Nakeli-Dhliwayo.

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