Evaluating government's communication strategy of the 16 Days of Activism campaign for No Violence Against Women and Children in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 219-241
Author(s):  
Mutambuli J. Hadji
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovation ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Gender Based

This article aims to evaluate government's communication strategy and citizens' awareness of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign in Soshanguve, South Africa. The study applied the diffusion of innovation theory because of its ability to assess how communities receive communication about the campaign from various media. Survey method was used to collect data, which was analysed using descriptive statistics. It was found out that mass media and other communication channels were main sources of campaign messages, which help the community to know how to address gender-based violence issues. Notably, this study found that females were more likely to know about the campaign than males. This article recommends that this campaign should be visible throughout the year and there should be more campaigns targeting men, and school curriculum, which educate pupils about the social and economic consequences of GBV.

Violence Against Women and Children Following the 2011 Great East Japan Disaster: Making the Invisible Visible Through Research

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 862-881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mieko Yoshihama ◽  
Tomoko Yunomae ◽  
Azumi Tsuge ◽  
Keiko Ikeda ◽  
Reiko Masai
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Sexual Contact ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Unwanted Sexual Contact ◽  
Structured Questionnaire ◽  
The Invisible

This study reports on 82 unduplicated cases of violence against women and children after the Great East Japan Disaster of March 2011. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from informants who worked with the disaster-affected populations. In addition to domestic violence, reported cases involved sexual assault and unwanted sexual contact, including quid pro quo assault perpetrated by nonintimates. Perpetrators often exploited a sense of fear, helplessness, and powerlessness and used threats to force compliance with sexual demands in exchange for life-sustaining resources. Findings point to the urgent need to develop measures to prevent and respond to postdisaster gender-based violence.

The Plight of Women and Children

2014 ◽  
Vol 652 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Bower
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Education Justice

Despite South Africa having ratified several international and regional women’s and children’s rights treaties, and having one of the most admired constitutions in the world, the plight of women and children after 20 years of democracy remains, in many respects, dire—especially in rural communities. South Africa is a deeply conservative and patriarchal society, with high levels of violence in general and gender-based violence in particular. It has failed to create sufficient employment opportunities and to sustainably address intergenerational poverty, the latter of which impacts most severely rural women and children. HIV/AIDS has wreaked its most adverse effects on women and children. This context is exacerbated by breakdowns in the health, education, justice, and security sectors; the relative inaccessibility of services (such as health care, schooling, and housing); and the frequently poor quality of services when they are available.

scholarly journals South Africa Gender Based Violence and the Global Gendered Viewpoint Approach Mechanisms in Building a Peaceful World

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2(S)) ◽  
pp. 15-25
Author(s):  
Andrew Osehi Enaifoghe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Gender Violence ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Gender Based

This study looks at the prevalence of gender violence in South Africa particularly, and argues to support a gendered perspective as an approach with the inclusion of women in an effort to address or resolve violence against women. The UNSCR-1325 reaffirmed the significance of gender integration at all levels of peace and security agenda, the purpose underlined in the declaration shows a slow affirmation among international organisations. The effect of gender based brutality is a significant human rights infringement with real social and formative effects for overcoming viciousness. On an individual level, sexual based violence can lead to mental injury, and can have both psychological social and physical ramifications for survivors. Therefore, the argument set forward in support of a gendered viewpoint to deal with violence and peace-building originated from a classified arrangement of political characters, from a collection of controls, with various political sentimentalities and distinctive prescribed techniques for conflicts intervention. Furthermore, the global gendered perspective intervention is also assessed as a strategy by exploring various approaches to deal with global gender-based conflict. The approaches are considered instrumentalist in their various approaches, as they consider women to be instrumental in accomplishing a maintainable peace, but dismissing the issue of how peace can improve the situation of violence against women, and not taking into consideration the issues of gender based violence. This tremendously fails to discourse and address structural disparities and power crescendos or dynamics that underpinned gender discrimination. Findings in this study shows that, there is a need for gendered perspective to address violence and build peace in various civil societies, while taking into account the socio-economic effect of gender violence. Peace and Security plan is goal-oriented and transformative in its discourse. Therefore, it requires women's contribution to fight gender violence at all levels.

scholarly journals A man's role as a head, a burden or a blessing? An exploration of the African and Christian perspectives on the conventional role of a male person

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rev. Jacob Mokhutso
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
African Culture ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
High Unemployment Rate ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
First Time

In 2020, during a strict lockdown in South Africa, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country experienced an increase in gender-based violence (hereafter, GBV) cases perpetrated by men. Similar incidents occurred in August 2021, declared a women’s month in South Africa, as a tribute to the over 20,000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 to protest against the extension of pass laws. Many scholars have tried to make sense of this, giving rise to diverse views about the causes of this phenomenon. Other scholars argue that men behave in this manner because of the high unemployment rate, as many businesses are struggling, due to a loss of revenue, as a result of COVID-19, and the government’s lockdown measures. Other perspectives from different quarters indicate that GBV is due to stress and many other mental conditions, as a South African dwindling economy has impacted on families and caused losses of jobs and businesses closing. This is not the first time that the country has experienced these high cases of GBV. Over the years, men have and continue to commit heinous crimes and abuse each other, as well as women and children. This raises a question: Is this violence not a reaction by men to their role as heads of families and their socialisation by the African culture and Christian religion that teaches men to be heads of their households? Secondary data methods were applied in this research. The research found that men are under enormous pressure to meet society’s expectations of them. That pressure has turned them into monsters who are not coping and instead kill themselves, their loved ones, or resort to violence.

Violence against women and girls

2020 ◽  
pp. 684-692
Author(s):  
Tonye Wokoma ◽  
Stephen Lindow
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Genital Mutilation ◽  
Psychological Harm ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Gender Based

Violence against women and girls is defined as ‘any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life’. In this definition, violence is given its gender-related status and constructed as a problem which facilitates the enduring subjugation of women in society. As well as being a violation of individual rights, violence against women and girls prevents them from flourishing and contributing to their families and communities. It thus has an impact on the economic and social well-being of any society. It also holds back progress on international development targets. Violence against women and girls encompasses rape in conflict, female genital mutilation, stalking and harassment, child sexual abuse, ‘honour’-based violence, forced marriage, and domestic violence. It has physical, sexual, psychological, and economic consequences. This chapter examines the health issues relating to violence against women and girls, the steps taken so far to prevent and cater for health implications, and suggests a way forward.

scholarly journals Gender-based violence ignites the re-emergence of public opinion on the exercise of judicial authority

De Jure ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nomthandazo Ntlama
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Judicial Authority ◽  
The Law ◽  
Gender Based

South Africa is highly celebrated for its commitment to the promotion of human rights. This has also fostered "rights consciousness" among the citizenry which has become of essence for the advancement of the rights of women who had long been in the "legal cold". However, the significance of the "rights concepts" is marred by the extreme levels of gender-based violence against women. The effect of crimes suffered by women raises questions about South Africa's post-apartheid system of governance and the promotion of the rule of law, which is founded on human rights. With South Africa's history, it is assumed that law has the potential to transform societies in ensuring the fulfilment of rights as envisaged in many national, regional and international instruments. Against this background, this paper focuses on the recent shocking wave of the extreme levels of gender-based violence against women experienced in South Africa with the resultant consequence of the agitation of the public on the independence of the judiciary. Whilst it acknowledges the limitations of the law and the challenges faced by women, it argues against public opinion that seem to wither the democratic character of the state relating to the functioning of the judiciary. It also argues that public opinion waters down the assumption about the capacity of the law in generating social change. In addition, the confidence in the judiciary cannot be replaced by invidious philosophies that appear to compromise the independence of the judiciary as envisaged in the doctrine of separation of powers. The argument advanced herein is limited to the rationality of the calls by further raising a question whether safeguarding independence and impartiality of the judiciary should be outweighed by public outrage on gender-based violence. It also does not profess to provide an expert analysis of the interrelationship between law and social change because of the complexities that exists between these areas. Overall, the paper acknowledges and shares the concerns by the public on the elimination of gender-based violence; however, it refuses the indirect consequence of public opinion on the trampling of judicial authority.

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