South African Women’s Month
South African Women’s Month
August 2019 has been very productive for
World Merit South Africa since it is Women’s Month in their country! We are
very proud to highlight these reports from Emmanuelle Tshala and Sinolonwabo Xhonti who have so brilliantly
expressed the issues women are facing in their country and presented many
amazing projects World Merit South Africa have put together to tackle these
issues.
In South Africa, August is widely known as women’s month. This is a month where attention is drawn to the plight of women in this country and
various campaigns are launched in order to further the female agenda.
Like in many other parts of the world, women in South Africa are a
significantly marginalized group. This marginalization presents itself in
various forms such as high rates of gender-based violence, income inequality,
poor access to positions of power and lack of access to basic needs such as
sanitary towels. Although this all paints a grim picture for the state of women
in South Africa, organizations like World Merit are putting in great amounts of
time and effort to alleviate South African women of the plight that comes with
just being women.
These initiatives include the “Know your
body” campaign as well as the Sanitary towel drive, coordinated by the Lead
Advocate for Gender Equality (SDG5). These campaigns are aimed at providing
young women – in high school and disadvantaged communities- with sanitary towels
and invaluable knowledge about their bodies that they would not learn
elsewhere. Beyond this, there have been women’s marches around the country that
make a call for the rights of women to be recognized by the government and like
institutions. There have also been a plethora of social media campaigns that
have brought awareness to issues pertaining to women.
Women’s month is an amazing month in South Africa because women are
celebrated, heard and most importantly united. It is a month where
organizations like World Merit can have significant reach and impact. That
being said, one month is not enough. Women ought to be revered in this manner
every month of the year and this is a goal that World Merit South Africa along
with Lead Advocate for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 and 10 aim to
achieve.
We say ‘Wathint' Abafazi,
Wathint' Imbokodo' which translates to, ‘you strike the women, you strike the
rock.’ These words from the
famous resistance song have come to symbolise the courage and strength
expressed at the Women's March of 1956
Prepared by: Emmanuelle Tshala
Lead Advocate SDG 10: Cape Town Local
Council
World Merit South Africa
The Sanitary towel drive will take place
on the 13th of September and surely will impact many women and girls
in their community. World Merit South Africa is doing a fantastic job
campaigning for women’s rights and providing sanitary products and education,
nevertheless, as the next report will explain, there still is not enough being
done to support women and the dangers they can face in the country.
In a country that has seen 25 years of
democracy and equal rights for all, it is important to ask the question “where
have we failed our women and girls?” Over the past few years, the
country has seen a rise in femicide and gender-based violence statistics. Every
year, the month of August is dedicated to women, however, with the scourge of
violence faced by South African women, is one month enough to address the
changes that are necessary to tackle these sometimes, life and death issues?
There must be immediate action to create more solutions and to make changes to
the system.
This
year the Ministry of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities launched a
gender equality campaign under the theme “25 Years of Democracy: Growing South
Africa Together for Women's Emancipation”. This campaign is aimed towards
addressing the issues faced by South African women. It has opened a platform of
engagement, through social media, for women using the hashtag #HEARMETOO. This
is a great way of opening a platform for advocacy by bringing forward the
experiences of South African women. The campaign is also creating a space for
women to exercise their basic rights and their freedom of expression. This can
also be a space where women draw courage from each other and find ways to
overcome the inequalities they face on a daily basis. Equally important, is the
exposure South African men get from women’s engagement on social media
platforms.
It
is important, when faced with questions about where we failed, to keep our
minds open to the changes and efforts given to address the inequalities and
violence faced by women. The struggle is not for the government alone but also
for us in the Non-Governmental Organizations sector. We need to integrate our
efforts to create a force that will change the current circumstances of women.
In this journey, we (the NGO sector) are needed to mobilise, advocate, educate
and deliver services that will ensure the emancipation of South African women.
We need to be the social watchdogs in our communities to effect change.
Prepared by: Sinolonwabo Xhonti
Lead Advocate SDG 5: Cape Town Local
Council, World Merit South Africa
We hope Women’s month 2020 will be just as
successful and empowering. As a global community, we must recognise this month
to bring global attention and create change. World Merit looks forward to
creating a world where women can feel supported and protected every month of
the year, everywhere.
Together, we can bring the change we want
in our country and beyond- starting with our local communities.
Comments
Post a Comment