Abdul Aziz Abu Bakr - South Africa
"Today my daughter is 14, when I was already raped, I look at her face now and see only a child. Today I remembered how I was also a child at the time."
These were the words of Sehil Bolani, a South African women's rights activist, in her talk about the situation of women in the country and how her traumatic experience at her young age contributed to raising her awareness of the issue.
Terrifying numbers
In a 2018 report on violence in South Africa, the country's official national statistics agency noted that women's homicide rates were more than five times the global average.
The report also points out that rape targeting women and girls is one of the biggest problems facing South Africa, with 250 out of every 100,000 women being victims of sexual crimes.
These official statistics are supported by a report by the South African Police Service, which states that 80% of sexual crimes reported in 2016 and 2017 were rape.In addition, 2,930 adult women have been killed, with one woman killed every 3 hours in South Africa.
Fatima Shehabuddin: The South African Constitution is one of the most advanced not only in the African continent but in the world. |
A progressive constitution but ..
Fatima Shehabuddin, a feminist activist and director of strategy at the Wraith Foundation, says the South African constitution, which sets out human rights frameworks, is one of the most advanced, not only in the African continent, but in the world, especially in the area of progressive values for women.
Shehab al-Din told Al Jazeera Net that women's rights movements in South Africa received all the constitutional legislative victories, but stressed that according to the World Health Organization, violence against women in South Africa is five times higher than the global average.
| Mandela: Freedom can only be achieved if women are freed from all forms of oppression. |
Mandela and Women's Empowerment
Nelson Mandela introduced himself as a leader interested in empowering women in the public sphere when he opened South Africa's first post-apartheid parliament in 1994. "Freedom can only be achieved if women are free from all forms of oppression," he said.
In his autobiography, "A Long Road to Freedom," Mandela outlined the crucial role played by the women's association of the African National Congress (now the ruling party) in the anti-apartheid movement.
Fadila Mohamed, a government adviser on legislation and law, and a former official in the South African parliament, has stressed that women's demands are very clear "full equality".
Thousands of women under apartheid faced a triple burden of persecution, repression as a result of racism, economic exploitation and sexual oppression, yet they sought freedom and the end of repression and played an important role in the struggle against apartheid.
| Real equality on the ground between men and women depends on changing the social structure of society. |
Equal rights
The former official in parliament told the island that "the founding document of the democratic system in the country clearly prohibits any person or government institution from unfair discrimination on the basis of sex."
She stressed that South Africa has the "legislative framework for a society based on equal rights between men and women", but they are far from the real equality on the ground between men and women, because this depends on changing the social structure of society, which takes a long time.
A special report released by South Africa's Poverty Share Statistics showed that five out of ten poor South Africans were women, noting that their average income was less than $ 36 a month.
The importance of the role of men
While the academy and the director of the Chwara Nang Legal Defense Center to End Violence Against Women, Welikaze Stovail, stressed that men as part of society should take steps to help solve and empower the problem of violence against women, beginning with their recognition of being part of the problem and taking responsibility for what happens to women. . And instilling a culture of respect between men and women.
She noted the role of conscious men in carrying a key message to sensitize other men to take their role in preventing what is happening to women in their homes and workplaces. It also noted the role played by civil society institutions in raising awareness and guidance on the role of both women and men.
| South African women kill more than five times world average |
While one of the most influential sites in spreading the word on the issue of women and their role in society is the media, until recently, women's issues have not been of interest to the front pages or major programs in South African newspapers and visual media, the journalist said. Shazia Ibrahim.
Shazia described in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, that the press and media campaigns that occur are often of an attractive nature of the presentation in the media, while the media ignores many stories that do not have the same effect, which is a big problem, "especially because I am a woman and realize the difficulty of the subject The fear and anxiety we live in the country under the weight of violence and inequality. "
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month called for an emergency joint session of parliament on what he called "a dark and heavy shadow across the country," citing violence against women in South Africa.
Ramaphosa unveiled a contingency plan with a special budget to tackle the problem, adding that he would make amendments to the law to do a better job of holding perpetrators of violence against women and children fully accountable.