South Africa declared gender-based violence a national disaster in the runup to this year's worldwide 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV). The president made the announcement as women around the country staged a shutdown to demand a solution. Why is GBV still so prevalent in a country where it's illegal?

Johannesburg

South Africa has officially declared gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster after a nationwide shutdown by women coincided with the arrival of world leaders for the G20 summit. The move follows mounting pressure from activists and international supporters, highlighting the country's femicide rate, which is five times the global average.

Despite existing laws, harmful social norms and economic challenges continue to put women and girls at risk. Activists and officials emphasize the need for improved policy implementation, community accountability, economic empowerment for girls, and better support services for victims, calling for tangible action beyond high-level promises.

Why are women still unsafe in South Africa?

The world is now marking 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. The UN-backed campaign aims to dismantle the cultural and structural barriers that keep women unsafe. As world leaders began pouring into South Africa for the G20 on November 21, South African women staged a nationwide shutdown to demand urgent action to stop the violence that they face. And their campaign paid off. On the very same day, the government declared gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster. When we did our shutdown, we saw such an international reaction and support and solidarity because gender-based violence is a national and global issue. So I think what we would hope is that citizens from other countries can also see the power of their unified voices and coming together and speaking out against these issues. But why are so many women and girls so persistently falling victim to violence? I've seen a lot of women stay in abusive relationships because they are from poor backgrounds. There is no traditional culture which allows abuse. It's only us misusing tradition and culture. Welcome to the flip side. Fifteen women are killed in South Africa every day, and that's a femicide rate five times the global average. Gender-based violence is outlawed, but harmful social norms persist. I blame society. I blame society because at the end of the day, those men, when they meet and talk, they're speaking wrong messages to each other, especially if they're going through problems. They're speaking wrong messages that they must be dominant or something like that. So what goes on in the minds of the men and women caught up in cycles of violence? In some cultures, you know, women do normalize violence as love. I mean, cultural socialization and patriarchy contributes to that type of behavior. You know, it is a harmful norm, you know, because it teaches them that, you know, endurance in relationship, for example, is a sign of loyalty. And what can families or communities do to change this? We need a society to start teaching healthy relationships early. I mean, families should model respect. I mean, that is the most critical element of African people, you know, and also emotional expression for both boys and girls. But also we have to look at community accountability systems. And here we are talking about faith leaders. They need to play their role in our schools and local governments in our countries. And also our policing system needs to be very, you know, very sensitive around these matters when these matters are brought to the police stations as well. But lastly, I think the other aspect is to empower economic support, particularly on a girl child. And is it true that the government is failing women and girls? We acknowledge that more is required to be done, particularly on the issue of capacity building for service desk points, where in human beings like you and I, whether men or women, require that kind of capacity building in order to understand the conditions that the victims of gender-based violence are subjected to. We want to integrate the victims to the communities that they come from, but also the households that they come from. So now that GBV is a national disaster, how do activists see the way forward to a society where a South African woman can live without the fear of violence? What we're hoping to see more tangibly is we want to see a clear action plan. We want to see improvement and implementation of the frameworks and policies. We want improvement of service delivery and law enforcement. We want to see our Tijuzela Care Centres improving, which are just facilities that offer holistic support to victims and survivors. We really want to see the action behind all this work because we've been given so many high-level promises, like it's enough. We now want to see the map. And that's the flip side.

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