With the high prevalence of Gender based violence in the country, the harming and murder of women and girls constantly increasing there is a need for effective and relevent interventions. Africa Unite has been involved in a number of interventions and dialogues around gender based violence in numerous communities. We have observed the great need to strengthen our involvement through community participation to come up with practical solutions.
Africa Unite had a men to men dialogue on the 23rd of June 2018 with outstanding results as men discussed the culture of violence, causes of Gender based violence and came up with suggestions on how these incidences of Gender based violence can be lowered or even erradicated.
Following this, on the 21st of July 2018 Africa Unite in partnership with the following organisations, 5X5 #Uniting Youth, GCIS, Activate, Gugulethu youth desk, IPYG and SASA conducted a women to women dialogue at the Gugulethu Sport Complex. The purpose of this event was to bring women from different backgrounds together to openly discuss the causes of gender based violence and give suggestions on how its occurance can be stopped.
Forty seven women of different age groups gathered at the dialogue from diverse townships of Cape Town such as Khayelitsha, Delft, Nyanga, Tambo Village and Gugulethu.
Some of the issues raised and mentioned by the participants during the discussion as causes of gender based violence were:
- Musculinity and peer pressure shaping most men’s behaviour
- Gender roles or culture over generations contributing to the continuation and increase of gender based violence
- The failure of both men and women to cope with the changes in social roles as women are now becoming financially secure, opposed to being completely dependent on their husbands/ partners.
- Women often undermining each other and contributing to the abuse and violence against other women and girls
- GBV having become a common occurance in such a way that children find this normal and imitate the behaviour.
Presentations by the women.
After a long and fruitful discussion the women made the following recomendations in order to curb GBV:
- All the participants agreed that the dialogue was very informative and they recommended that these dialougues be extended to other areas in Cape Town including the rural parts.
- They also noted that there is a need for work to be done around helping communities redefine gender roles and eliminate musculinity.
- The also proposed that women strengthen their bonds to protect each other, children and men from violence.
- Furthermore they also recommended activities that teach human rights, anger management and conflict resolution as most people are unaware of how to resolve conflict or deal with emotions without violence.
Participants enjoying an icebreaker out in the sun.
These dialogues have been a build up to the women to men/ men to women dialogue that we will hosted on the 18th of August 2018. We hope to see you there! For more information on the women to men/ men to women dialogue contact Yonela on +27 21 461 6551 / yonela@africaunite.org.za
for more pictures click here
Africa Unite Blog 