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Tackling gender inequality and discrimination

31 July 2023 | Story Valentino Ndaba

The Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Office (GEADO) is an integral part of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Unit for Institutional Change and Social Justice. Its primary focus is to create a safe and inclusive environment for students and staff. The office plays a crucial role in shaping the student experience and in fostering inclusivity in student accommodation and residence environments.

The GEADO takes proactive steps to achieve this, including implementing guidelines and policies to address and prevent gender-based violence and sexual misconduct. It also conducts conscientisation workshops to raise awareness, challenge biases, and promote empathy among stakeholders.

“As an integral component of our initiatives, the GEADO implements proactive measures to foster safe spaces for students, through the establishment of its Sexual Offence Response Team (SORT) and sexual harassment guidelines,” said Dr Lentsu Nchabeleng, Deputy Director of the Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Office. She further emphasised, “These frameworks are formulated to tackle and prevent occurrences of gender-based violence and sexual misconduct, ensuring a secure, healthy, and conducive environment for both students and staff to flourish and develop as individuals and as a community.” The GEADO is currently reviewing the UFS Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, and Sexual Violence Policy to strengthen its commitment to a zero-tolerance stance on gender-based violence and sexual misconduct.

Beyond addressing specific incidents, the GEADO aims to cultivate an inclusive and socially just atmosphere across the UFS’s campuses. It closely monitors the environment, identifies trends, and stays updated on global and local interventions to positively impact its work.

The office is a driving force behind fostering a safe, inclusive, and socially just campus culture that embraces gender equality and combats discrimination. It partners with LGBTIAQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, queer, and others) organisations like Free State Rainbow Seeds to further support its mission. Some of the programmes championed by the office include safety zone training, sexuality sensitisation, and diversity training.

Safe zone training

The Safe Zones@UFS project is modelled after a similar programme in the USA, specifically the Safe Zones Project at San Diego State University. Its purpose is to create a supportive and safe environment for individuals who identify as LGBTIAQ+.

Dr Nchabeleng said the project encompasses the training of faculty members and students to become Safe Zones allies, offering support to students, staff, as well as families and friends of individuals identifying as LGBTIAQ+. She emphasised that the role of Safe Zone allies involves providing assistance to LGBTIAQ+ students and staff during their coming-out process, serving as an informative resource for LGBTIAQ+ matters, advocating for LGBTIAQ+ rights, and acting as a referral point for other essential services, including medical and counselling support.

Sexuality sensitisation

Gender and sexuality sensitisation is crucial for fostering inclusive and respectful environments in educational institutions, workplaces, and communities. It involves raising awareness about consent, sexual minorities, and diverse gender identities, while addressing gender-based violence, sexual harassment, and misconduct. The approach includes consent education, understanding sexual minorities, exploring gender identities, combating gender-based violence and harassment, promoting safe spaces, challenging stereotypes, encouraging allyship, and promoting positive masculinity and femininity. Overall, these efforts create a more understanding and supportive community in which individuals of all genders and sexual orientations can thrive.

Diversity Training

The Diversity Training programme focuses on increasing awareness and understanding of diverse backgrounds and experiences. It includes workshops and training to address unconscious bias, promoting a fair and equitable environment. The goal is to create a sense of belonging, where everyone feels accepted and valued. The programme is flexible and can be customised for organisations or communities, and it can be delivered through various formats. Embracing diversity and inclusion can lead to better outcomes, improved teamwork, and the attracting of diverse talent. Overall, it fosters a culture of inclusivity and appreciation for diverse perspectives, benefitting both individuals and organisations.

Important contact information

Bloemfontein Campus: +27 51 401 3982

South Campus: +27 51 401 7544

Qwaqwa Campus: +27 58 718 5431

Toll-free number +27 80 020 4682

News Archive

SA must appoint competent judges

2009-05-08

At the inaugural lecture are, from the left: Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Acting Rector of the UFS, Judge Farlam and Prof. Johan Henning, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the UFS.

Supreme Court of Appeal Judge Ian Farlam has called on the South African government to appoint and continue to appoint competent, fair and experienced judicial officers to sit in the country’s courts.

He also emphasised the need to have an efficient and highly respected appellate division, which rightly enjoys the confidence of all.

Judge Farlam was speaking at the University of the Free State (UFS) where he delivered his inaugural lecture as Extraordinary Professor in Roman Law, Legal History and Comparative Law in the Faculty of Law.

He said there were important lessons that emanated from the study of legal history in the Free State, particularly including the lesson that there were courageous jurists who spoke up for what they believed to be right, and a legislature who listened and did the right thing when required.

“This is part of our South African heritage which is largely forgotten – even by those whose predecessors were directly responsible for it. It is something which they and the rest of us can remember with pride,” Judge Farlam said.

Addressing the topic, Cox and Constitutionalism: Aspects of Free State Legal History, Judge Farlam used the murder trial of Charles Cox, who was accused of killing his wife and both daughters, to illustrate several key points of legal history.

Cox was eventually found guilty and executed, however, the trial caused a deep rift between the Afrikaans and English speaking communities in the Free State.

Judge Farlam also emphasised that the Free State Constitution embodied the principle of constitutionalism, with the result that the Free State was a state where the Constitution and not the legislature was sovereign. He said it was unfortunate that this valuable principle was eliminated in the Free State after the Boer War and said that it took 94 years before it was reinstated.

Judge Farlam added, “Who knows what suffering and tragedy might not have been avoided if, instead of the Westminster system, which was patently unsuited to South African conditions, we had gone into Union in 1910 with what one can describe as the better Trekker tradition, the tradition of constitutionalism that the wise burghers of the Free State chose in 1854 to take over into their Constitution from what we would call today the constitutional best practice of their time?”

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za
8 May 2009

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