As some you may know, Friday March 8th was International
Women’s day. Throughout the history of mankind, women have been significantly
disadvantaged and under-recognized for their great contributions to our world.
Even now, women fight for equality in many places all over the globe. In light of this, it is fitting that we would celebrate women as those with
great strength who are still fighting for equality in a broken world.
On Saturday, I was fortunate to participate in a Women’s Day
function which both celebrated women, and discussed the weighty issue of
violence against women. In my time here in South Africa, I have frequently been
confronted with this issue as violence against women occurs at a much higher
rate than in North America. It is much more widely discussed, yet almost every
day in the news there are new stories of women abused, assaulted, and raped, and murdered by
men in heartless, inhumane ways and sadly, this has become a
norm here in South Africa. While it can be a heavy topic to discuss, I felt I
wanted to share about this struggle here as it is a significant part of my experience here in South Africa.
After a recent string of rapes followed by gruesome murders
and other types of assaults, I saw on the news an elementary school protesting
against this social abhorrence after a local girl was raped and murdered in a
school yard. Young girls who were only 7
or 8 years old gathered together shouting in unison“Don’t rape me.” That
children this age would know about rape and have to fear it is a clear
indicator of the issue here. Another story told was of a mother whose 2 year
old daughter sang a little song she learned in daycare about inappropriate
touch- “Please Uncle don’t touch me here, here, here, or I will call the police
10111, and you will get locked up, weee, weee, weee.” Yet another instance of
children having to know all too much all too soon.
In working with refugees, the issue of violence against
women is even greater. There are more risk factors such as high tensions
related to financial struggles, as well as stress and trauma which remains
undealt with from the conflict which caused them to flee their homes.
In the local
communities, refugee women also experience greater risk as foreigners. Those
who come as refugees or economic migrants into South Africa are viewed quite
unfavorably. As this is the case, it is not uncommon for refugees to be
attacked, abused, or taken advantage of. Even the police are less likely to
assist refugees who come to report a crime.
These larger social issues along with some individual
stories of violence against women, deepened my understanding of this issue, as
well as encouraged me to grapple with my role in standing against this. I was
given hope as a few strong women stood and shared their stories—stories of
overcoming. These small steps reminded me that we must make it ok to talk about
this issue. While I know that violence against women is a much larger issue in
South Africa, it is all over the world, yet in some places- it remains a
secret.
A poet read a powerful poem which relayed the power that
women have given to this issue. In one line she stated that “your silence made
you a lady.” But then she continued, “what is the point of being a lady?” I
have hope that as time marches forward, women not only in South Africa, but
around the world will reject this idea of “being a lady” and speak out against
the violence which has gone on for too long!
