16 days not enough

Val, who describes her age as “over 50” was one of several people interviewed recently about the 16 Days campaign.

Started in 1991, the international event 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (16 Days) is held each year. It runs from International Day for Prevention of Violence Against Women (25 November) to International Human Rights Day (10 December). The campaign raises awareness about gender violence.

A series of “person on the street” interviews held with a variety of people in Johannesburg’s Melville suburb revealed mixed understanding of 16 Days, and a range of opinions about the event.

Felicia, a 23 year old resident of Randpark Ridge who works at Absa, had never heard of the campaign.

But for Lindiwe, a 23 year old security guard from Gauteng, herself a survivor of abuse, 16 Days is important to her because it is a time when she sees the support and solidarity for women everywhere in the press and on the radio.

A 2001 Human Rights Watch report claimed that South Africa “has one of the world's highest reported rates of violent crimes committed against women.” In 2004, a policy brief by the Medical Research Council reported that “every six hours a woman is killed by her intimate partner.”

According to Statistics South Africa (1998), rape victims in the country were more likely to be young women aged between 16 and 25 years. Relatives of victims or intimates committed 34, 6% of all rapes, casual acquaintances 26,1% while 24,4% of all victims did not know their attackers.

In South Africa, 16 Days is marked primarily by media events and publicity opportunities, with a few organisations such as Womensnet, Gender Links, as well as the One in Nine campaign hosting events and raising awareness around it.

But some question if this awareness raising is enough.

Von and Matthew, 16 year old high school students from Melville, believe that publicity can only go so far. “It’s just like a few days,” said Matthew. “It doesn’t mean anything special. In my home there is abuse, but not much is being done. It’s good for awareness, but all it really is is pictures on the TV.”

When asked what would make a difference, Von said “Government has to come with a more hands on approach. They need more social workers. They need to come and visit homes, not just look at the orphanages and such.”

This sentiment is shared with a 45 year old Johannesburg resident who declined to give her name. She believes that violence against women persists because men do not fear being punished for it. “Every day you read about how men abuse women and children,” she said. “They must bring back the death sentence. Jail is like a holiday place. They get food for nothing, for free.”

“Government has a responsibility but they do nothing about it,” she continued. “There is too much corruption in Parliament.” What would stop gender violence? “Change the leaders, change the president, change the Parliament.”

But Woolworth's employee Dehana was more sympathetic to the campaign. Woolworth’s has endorsed 16 Days, and employees can wear badges demonstrating their support for the campaign. “It means a great lot to me that people are aware of what’s going on,” said Dehana, 21 who has “seen abuse with [her] own eyes.”

Wearing the Woolworth’s pin, Dehana says, plays a part in the campaign. “It makes people around you aware because obviously people stop you and ask you where did you get that and why are you wearing it,” she explained. “16 days really does help. It adds to knowledge, it gets word out to others. But still the media is not doing enough. They should make a bigger effort.”

21 year old Bongani from Soweto praised the campaign: “It’s a very good idea,” he stated. “It helps a lot. If you can notice right now, quite a lot of people have been told that it’s wrong to abuse women and children. During this process the man who beats his wife finds out that it’s wrong.”

As Val explained, “the media isn’t doing enough. They concentrate just on 16 days. Come the 17^th day, all the men go and beat up their wives again.”

“Why are the men doing it?” she asked. “What is the thinking behind the man who believes he has the entitlement to beat his wife? You have to get to that underlying thinking. Why do men think they can beat their children?

“That’s we should start,” Val said firmly. “Understand the problem from that level, and work on the solution from there."