The women of Africa Unite were proud to join the intersectional women’s march to end gender-based violence against women and gender non-conforming people. The march began at 09:30 at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and concluded with rousing songs, speeches and testimonies, at the parliament building in central Cape Town. The memorandum, which was read to the crowd before being delivered to parliament, was a crowd-sourced call to change policies and implementation of policies concerning women and gender non-conforming individuals. There were strong and laudable demands, to eradicate gender-based violence in 2018. This is the biggest march in South Africa since the Women’s march on 9th August 1956.
Women were dressed in black and red, despite their organisational affiliations, in support of the initiative and in solidarity of the women. The Africa Unite placard read “Don’t Rape”, in light of our upcoming gender-based violence workshops which will run throughout Women’s month in an effort to spread awareness in our communities. South Africa has earned its title as a rape capital of the world, with 1 in 3 women nationally experiencing rape within their lifetime. A rape occurs in South Africa every 17 seconds. 27 people in the Western Cape alone are raped daily.
This is a gross human rights violation, which is why here at Africa Unite we take gender-based violence very seriously. We are proud to be hosting several events during Women’s month which emphasise this commitment to human rights and women’s rights, please follow our social media for more details closer to the time.
See our social media accounts for more information about our upcoming events. Click here for more photos from the march, click here for our Facebook page and here for our Instagram page.
Africa Unite Blog 