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Victims of prejudiced gender-based violence continue to suffer in silence

03 December 2021 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Supplied

Geraldine Lengau, Senior Officer in the UFS Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Office within the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice, calls on men to take the lead in ending gender-based violence.

Gender-based violence is a phenomenon deeply rooted in gender inequality and the scourge continues to be one of the most notable human rights violations, with many communities – especially women and children – suffering the most from the atrocious acts.

South Africa remains the country with the highest number of violent acts, especially against women, and Statistics South Africa reports that one in five partnered women has experienced physical violence.

Gender-based violence can take many forms, including

• sexual harassment;

• rape and/or sexual violence;

• stalking (deliberately and repeatedly following, watching, and/or harassing another person);

• physical, emotional, and economic abuse; and

• child abuse.

Geraldine Lengau, Senior Officer in the Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Office within the Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice, says: “Individuals must be vigilant of toxic environments where emotional and physical abuse are rampant.”

“Even in the workplace, individuals can experience gender-based violence and it can play itself out in the form of power dynamics, prejudice, and discrimination.”

To help end gender-based violence at work, Lengau says, “Institutions have a duty to implement policies and procedures to increase awareness and sensitisation about this pandemic.”

Societal norms often contribute to victims deciding not to report these criminal acts for fear of being judged, with many women still being considered guilty of attracting violence against themselves through their behaviour.

“It is important for communities to provide support to victims and for organisations to have a zero gender-based violence tolerance policy. Victims must report any act, and in extreme cases, they must not be shy to get a protection order,” Lengau says.

With the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children Campaign in full swing, Lengau says, “It is a great international initiative to tackle and raise awareness around issues of gender-based violence; however, it is not enough. It should go beyond the 16 days.”

“To rid society of gender-based violence, our communities – men and women – should work together to root it out. Men should take the lead in tackling issues and bringing about solutions. Women should never get tired of speaking out; there is help for them.”

“Gender-based violence is a societal ill and women need to know that they should not bear the shame,” she says.

News Archive

“I, too, am an African,” says visiting US drama professor

2013-03-06

Africans are of blood and of soil, says Prof Charles Dumas in his inaugural lecture at the UFS. Speaking on the topic I, too, am an African, Prof Dumas reminisced about his life and experiences on the continent.
Photo: Minette Grove
05 March 2013

Lecture (pdf)

What is an African? Is it those born in Africa, defined in racial and genealogical terms, or those who identifies with the continent in nationality and ancestral location? Did the descendants of enslaved Africans in the US, the Caribbean or Brazil lose their Africaness when their ancestors were put on slave ships to the New World?

These were some of the questions raised by Prof Charles Dumas, visiting senior professor in the Department Drama and Theatre Arts, in his inaugural lecture at the university.

Proclaiming attachment to the continent, Prof Dumas told his audience there are two types of Africans: Africans of the blood and Africans of the soil. In a speech titled, “I, too, am an African,” he stated that he lay claim to his ancestral birthright not because of blood relationship to an identifiable ethnic group or birthright to the continent, but because he earned it.

“I suggest another way that one can be an African, is through trial and struggle to be reborn an African in spirit. It is a ritual journey that may be taken by anyone. For, after all, if we are to believe the anthropologists who tell us that human life as we know it began in the Olduvai Gorge, genetically we are all African in origin.”

Prof Dumas, a senior professor at Penn State University in the USA, took the audience on a journey of his experiences on the continent, starting in 1978 when he first came to South Africa as a legal observer. Noticing the changes between Apartheid and today’s South Africa, he said this generation are committed to learn from each other – and that is the most important, he said.

“With their hopes and aspirations they earnestly desire to live in the new South Africa that we promised them. We must support them in their effort. It is time we stored our old baggage in the closet.”

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