SOUL CITY INSTITUTE

AN INTERSECTIONAL FEMINIST APPROACH CAN PREVENT AND RESPOND TO GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

The rates and incidences of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa are staggering. It’s become normal to see headlines of yet another child, woman and LGBTQI+ person who has been raped, assaulted or even killed by a man — in most cases, by a man they know and one they’ve had a relationship with. Horrifically, South Africa’s rate of femicide – murdering women on the basis of their gender – is more than five times the world average. In most cases, it is not faceless perpetrators lurking in dark corners who are committing these murders, it is primarily intimate partners or people close to the victims.

According to the author of Femicide in South Africa Dr Nechama Brodie, close to 3000 women are murdered in South Africa each year, an average of eight femicides every single day.

South Africa, we have an emergency on our hands, a crisis that has existed for decades but has only been taken seriously and thrust into the public sphere in the last 20 years. Men are commonly the perpetrators of femicide and GBV, a clear indication of the significant role patriarchal societal norms play in these crimes. Patriarchy is a manifestation of the intersectionality of power and social disconnectedness. There continues to be an interplay between poverty, patriarchy, racism, homophobia and heteronormativity which puts children, women and LGBTQI+ persons at a higher risk of violence. Dismantling patriarchy should then be at the centred of GBV and femicide prevention. We cannot prevent GBV without grounding our efforts in feminist principles that recognise patriarchy as a system of power and work towards dismantling it. There are many forms of feminism, but they all share a common understanding – the idea that there are systems of power in our society that systematically oppress women.

It is this patriarchal power that keeps women oppressed and continues the cycle of GBV and femicide. The majority of black women in our country suffer triple oppression, them being women, black and poor. We must confront it at a political, social, cultural and religious level. Having been exposed to this oppression in my own life in one way or another, I find myself drawn to contribute to dismantling the system. The work we do at Soul City Institute also contributes to this disruption.

The Feminist Leadership and Activism Centre (FLAC)

This year, we launched the Feminist Leadership and Activism Centre (FLAC), a learning and co-creation space promoting decolonial feminist consciousness. The centre is born out of the urgency to create a generation of young feminists by providing education as a communal space of learning, sharing and connection that aims to explore social realities that affect the quality of women’s lives.

It is inspired by our new radicalised vision that acknowledges that “the empowerment” of young women and girls does not go far enough to achieve gender equity but putting intersectional feminism at the forefront of movement building ensures a just world for all girls and women.

We officially launched at an opportune time, just two days after the Presidential Summit on GBVF concludes. Feminist organising is central to the prevention of GBVF and the full realisation and implementation of the National Strategic Plan Gender-based Violence and Femicide, South Africa’s 10- year roadmap for responding to the scourge.

Feminist movement building is an essential catalyst for political and social change and plays a crucial role in advocating for and changing laws, attitudes, behaviours, norms, and practices that prevent and respond to GBV and Femicide. FLAC is one of the many programmes the Institute contribution to equipping the next generation of feminists who can achieve success despite the lack of an enabling environment, both political and financial.

FLAC is one of the many ways the institute is building organisational resilience and advancing the feminist struggle. It is a step forward towards cementing our intersectional feminist identity and agenda.

16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence

This November has been a pivotal month for GBV. The Presidential Summit on GBV and Femicide took place on the first two days of the month and it will end with the annual commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender- Based Violence. Soul City Institute

was part of the planning and preparation of the summit in its capacity as a member of the Call to Action Collection, a coalition of organisations working on ending GBV and femicide and building an autonomous feminist movement in South Africa.

In 2020, we launched the Kgalemelang campaign, our call to action to move from awareness to accountability, 365 days of holding ourselves and everyone else accountable for playing a part in ending gender-based violence. Through this campaign, we focus on influencing and advocating as an organisation and in collaboration with others through media and other platforms, providing thought leadership and setting the agenda.

‘Kgalemelang’ is a Sesotho and Setswana word that means to ‘call to order’, ‘rebuke’, or ‘challenge’ the status quo, and we plan to continue doing just that. This year’s campaign involves working and equipping community policing forums to incorporate GBV prevention in their work and hosting workshops that help men unlearn toxic masculinity and patriarchal norms.

Disability Rights and Awareness Month

November is not only the start of the 16 Days, but it is also Disability

Rights and Awareness Month in South Africa. While the odds are stacked against South African women as a whole, persons with disabilities face even more violence. In a study conducted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), girls and boys with disabilities are mostly excluded from education and health services, discriminated against in their communities and trapped in a cycle of poverty and violence. Girls and women with disabilities bear the brunt of these violations, as they face up to 10 times more genderbased violence than those without disabilities. Those with intellectual disabilities are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence.

The report found that children with disabilities are almost four times more likely to become victims of violence than children without disabilities and nearly three times more likely to be subjected to sexual violence, with girls at the greatest risk. People with disabilities are often left out of discussions and prevention interventions despite facing the double sword of discrimination and violence: their gender and disabilities.

Lumka Sizani is one of those women. The 37-year-old mother from Green Village in Soweto has experienced discrimination from nurses to police officers as she navigates the world as a deaf person in South Africa.

Last year during a Soul City Institute webinar, Lumka shared how she has struggled to access healthcare — particularly sexual and reproductive health services — in public health facilities and how she was failed by the justice system when she tried to report abuse at the police station.

“Where am I going to report my abuse? Who am I going to report it to? The police station is not accessible to me, there are no sign language interpreters there,” she told us. “Even if I were to be successful, what would happen in court? Would I easily access an interpreter?”

Partnerships

We also work with two rganisations that run GBV prevention and advocacy programmes focusing on people with disabilities.

Durban-based KwaZulu Natal Deaf Association ran a campaign focusing on how deaf people are not included in most awareness programmes due to the language barriers faced! Our partners in Taung, in North West, work with a local disability centre to address gender-based violence against persons with disabilities.

We at Soul City Institute have seen the power of behaviour change and believe it can help us address and prevent genderbased violence and femicide. But behaviour change is not linear, nor is it easy. We need to reach people where they are to inspire action, replacing harmful norms with human rights values through the power of pop culture, media, arts and tech, combined with on-the-ground engagement. As the CEO of this trailblazing organisation, I am deeply grateful to the Soul City

Institute team and all those who supported and partnered with us. We will continue to work towards preventing and ending GBV and femicide in South Africa. �

Contact Details

Tel: 011 341 0360Website: www.soulcity.org.za

Email: info@soulcity.org.za

Address: 1 Newtown Ave, Killarney, Johannesburg, 2193