The department for women and children with disabilities, in the office of the President has pledged to intensify initiatives aimed at rallying all South Africans behind the country’s fight against persistent acts of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF), including those perpetrated by intimate partners and family members.
The department said this was part of its National Strategic Plan on Gender Based Violence and Femicide.
While addressing scores of women and guests on Friday, Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said the initiative was an urgent need to move beyond slogans and invest adequate resources towards a whole-of-society and whole-of-government response to GBVF.
Chikunga said the GBVF Statistics were extremely concerning.
“We are fast-tracking the institutionalisation of the National Council GBVF Board of the on GBVF as part of the implementation of the National Council on GBVF Act 9 of 2024.
The setting up of this Council is critical for enhancing accountability and strong leadership in government and society at large.
Through legislation, we will strive for systemic change, prevention, and enforcement as constitutional imperatives.
We aim to bring together researchers, scholars, advocates, and activists who will go beyond mainstream narratives to obtain a granular picture from communities facing violence at the community or street level, ensuring that justice is served,” the minister added.
This year’s women’s month launch was celebrated under the theme of Celebrating 30 Years of Democracy Towards Women’s Development.”
Chikunga said this year’s commemoration was aimed at paying tribute the roles played by women in the decades of struggle against all forms of discrimination, subordination, and exploitation.
The minister further stressed that the ministry sought to celebrate how far women have come, the journeys traversed and victories attained by the women of the country in the three decades of the country’s democracy.
“This is a month where we also reflect on missteps with the aim of correcting them.
The 30 Years Review Report shines the spotlight on some of the commendable progress achieved in ensuring gender equality and social mobility.
For example, in the past 30 years, the representation of women in Parliament has increased from 28% in 1994 to 45% in 2019. The representation of women in senior management positions in the private and government sector workforce has increased from 20% in 2001 to 36% in 2021.
At our universities, as of 2017, the share of female graduates was about 61.5% compared to males at about 38.5%. At both the undergraduate and postgraduate level, women in South African public universities have been in the majority. While these are significant strides, a lot more still needs to be done”.
Saturday Star