Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said not another day should go by in which a woman is killed.
The campaign, 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence is marked from November 25 to 10 December. At the conference, Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls in Southern Africa, Nkoana-Mashabane said this period was a difficult moment in the calendar ‘because of the deep trauma South Africans experience from the extreme acts of violence against women, children and the LGBTQ community’.
“We are here [at the conference] to work in partnership with each other, to win in our lifetime. We are ready,” she added.
Patriarchy and violence, according to the minister, are one of the main reasons violence against women and girls is so high, but working with society can reset these outcomes.
Gender-based violence expert Dr Christine Brendel delivered the keynote speech on the second day of the conference. She has more than 20 years’ experience in working to eradicate violence against women and girls. “Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression. Violence directed at women is an extreme form of oppression,” she said.
Brendel urged governments, civil society organisations and the private sector to work together. “Freedom [for women and for society] comes from taking risks, including taking part in multi-stakeholder partnerships,” she added.
Related articles:
https://northeasterntribune.co.za/246911/take-a-stand/
https://northeasterntribune.co.za/241344/south-africas-shocking-gender-based-violence-statistics/
