13 November 2007
More SA women die from gender-based violence than any other cause
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| WORKING FOR CHANGE: Jordanian activist Amneh Helweh of the Karama Network addresses an International Women's Conference hosted by Masimanyane Women's Support Centre in East London yesterday. The two-day conference ends today. |
More women die from gender-based violence than any other cause in South Africa .
This was the startling statement by Masimanyane Women's Support Centre executive director Lesley Ann Foster at the start of the International Women's Conference on at the Osner Hotel today (Tuesday, 13 November) and tomorrow.
To add to the problem, said Foster, many deaths were recorded as a “medical event”, but the real reason – gender-based violence – was covered up.
“This is an injustice we will not tolerate anymore,” Foster said.
Addressing over 160 people this morning, Foster said she was proud of the work Masimanyane had done, particularly in policy making in South Africa .
However, a review of the work they'd done over the past 13 years since its inception brought them into a “sharp, sad and worrying reality of the many cases of rape, incest, battery, unbelievable brutality that lead to the death of so many women in South Africa”.
“Men die violently – but that's usually male on male. Women in South Africa die violently – but that's usually by men, and more often than not, by men they know.”
A further frightening development, she said, was the “steady march of HIV/Aids” in South Africa – “too many have it, too many are being infected every day, too many young women”.
“We can't even count the loss. The loss of parents, siblings, grandparents, history, skills, economic stability – but the biggest loss of all being human life.”
She said activists had tried everything, from education to training and capacity building – everything they thought would help – but these actions hadn't had the impact and effect they'd wanted.
Other issues to be addressed, she said, were teenage pregnancy, unsafe abortions, forced prostitution and child trafficking, murder because of sexual orientation and gender.
“We have created the space here to talk, to bring together a collective wisdom, to inform how we can move forward with the work we are doing.
“We need a response to gender-based violence that is political, social, economically based and that includes everyone. We need to shift a gear to a place where we have a better chance of bringing about change in the lives of our women and children.
“We are burnt out, we are tired, but if we can find some innovation, some creativity, to do things differently, we will be re-energised, re-inspired, to continue to do our work with integrity and enthusiasm into the future.”
On a positive note, Foster said she was thrilled at government's involvement with the fight against gender-based violence, for instance in their National Victim Empowerment Programme, Tutuzela and the 16 Days of Activism Campaign, which Masimanyane was instrumental in starting and which government had since taken on.
“This began with just a little march down Oxford Street , of around 100 people. Today the campaign stretches to every corner of South Africa . It's there.”
The positive energy at the conference – which is focusing on the issue of “How to dismantle obstacles and overcome challenges in addressing gender-based violence” – was palpable Tuesday morning.
In her opening address, Office of the Premier representative Margaret Mjo said that such a gathering, at a time when abuse, violence, rape and HIV/Aids were rife, made people “hold on and hold on and hold on to hope”, knowing that these issues were being addressed.
She thanked Foster for “keeping the fires burning in the Eastern Cape, which has deep, rural, remote areas where these issues are prevalent”, and where “infants and upwards are being abused by males who don't know what it means to have children” and women have children who are “acting against those same women”.
Mjo then acknowledged the guest speakers from around the world, as well as the men in the room, “who do not do evil things to women and children”, and who received resounding applause from the women present.
A delegation from the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) told guests they had an “agenda to create a space for women, to capacitate women, and to address our own issues”, and when women don't have funds, to help them obtain funds.
This fundraising and grant-making organisation supports the work being done by women, and their vision is “for African women to live in a changed world in which transformed women can live with integrity and in peace”.
Their mission, in order to obtain this vision, is to “mobilise financial, human and material resources to support local, national and international initiatives for transformation led by African women”.
The AWDF has also just opened an office in Johannesburg , and is involved financially in HIV/Aids programmes, 16 Days of Activism and the 13 Campaign, among many others.
Also at Tuesday morning's conference, women's activist Amneh Helweh told how a Middle Eastern network of woman had come up with a novel concept in their fight against gender-based violence - they analyse it.
The Jordanian activist explained how the Karama Network used hard facts gleaned from studies around the Middle East to change hearts and minds about the economic impact of violence against women.
"An abused women is more likely to be less productive", and this does not include the associated costs on state health resources arising from hospitalisation, said Helweh.
The word karama is Arabic for "dignity" and the network works in the countries of Jordan Palestine Syria Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and the Sudan .
She painted a sorry picture of women's rights in Jordan , where an abused woman is more likely to be met with indifference from both the police and legal system. The protection offered by labour law is most often denied to women, especially in certain sectors such as agriculture, which employs mostly women, she added.
The network serves as a vehicle for gender activists to share experiences and each region's operations and management is locally determined.
Another speaker, Nontobeka Foslara of Women Against Women Abuse, urged delegates to find proactive ways of making women socially and economically independent.
“Empowering women to know their rights is not enough,” she said. “We need to capacitate them with skills, especially economic and financial skills.”
Women should assist each other to link to and make use of the services and support systems that are available to them, she said.
“Reach out and make it possible for them to access their own power and independence. Take them along to government departments and agencies. Show them what services or support is available to them. Help them to register as legal entities so they can begin to access whatever assistance is available to them. Make sure that doors are opened. But don't wait for someone else to open them. Do it yourself.”
Mmatsilo Motsei, author of the acclaimed book, The Kanga and the Kangaroo Court: Reflection of the Rape Trial of Jacob Zuma , challenged women to consider why, despite the many social and legislative advances since democracy, South Africa still had among the highest rape and domestic violence statistics in the world.
“What is the missing piece? Why is this still a burning issue in our society?” she asked. “That is one of the fundamental questions this conference must debate.”
Motsei challenged women to recognise and embrace their own power, and to challenge their own stereotypes.
“We are all products of sexist societies, and we all have certain prejudices. We need to transform the thinking of men, yes, but also the thinking of women, because not all women are themselves gender conscious.
“We need to challenge and change women's perceptions of themselves, of their power and what their roles are as women in relation to power.”
Motsei also urged women to create support networks among themselves, and to break the many cycle of mutual oppression. “Often, we don't need men to oppress us, we oppress each other. We must change the way women are perceived by men, but also the way women perceive either other, and the way we perceive ourselves.”
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