WRITTEN BY OMEGA NGEMA
Enspired Women Magazine is intensifying the fight against gender based violence this month as shocking statistics revealed that GBV cases continued to skyrocket during the Covid-19 pandemic induced lockdown.
According to the Social Policy Network, the government GBV and femicide command centre alone recorded more than 120000 victims within the first three weeks of the lockdown. And, the Vodacom support call centre also saw an increase of 65% of calls from women and children confined in their homes seeking help.
These statistics are abominable. As a platform focusing on women empowerment and in inspiring them to manumit themselves from whatever fetters prohibiting them from reaching their full potential, the Enspired Women Magazine is launching an adroit drive aimed at combating the scourge of Gender based violence in the country.
We have three main programmes that will form part of our drive, namely an online talk show discussing gender based violence with an edifying panel unpacking the topic, including a mediator and qualified psychologist as well as a gender based violence survivor, business woman and activist; a free community gender based workshop event; as well as a gender based violence soul and jazz benefit concert.
The latest Stats SA report reveals that almost 50% of GBV assaults committed were by someone close to the victim such as a friend or/and acquaintance, 22% were by a spouse or intimate partner, 15% by a relative or other household member and only 13% were by unknown persons. This means that more often than not, the perpetrators of gender are people that we know, people that live with us and among us. Therefore, the Enspired GBV activism drive’s raison d’être is to inspire not only the victims to take control of their lives and move away from those situations, but also the perpetrators to also take control of their lives and seek rehabilitation and exoneration from these abhorrent behaviours. Because, at the end of the day, perpetrators are our friends, there are our husbands, our brothers, uncles, boyfriends, sister’s friends, colleagues and next door neighbours. The Enspired GBV activism drive, brings the focus back on these individuals in their bare and human form, before the monstrosity of their deeds.
