A yearly campaign has done little to decrease violence against women and children.
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Like most state-sponsored campaigns, the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children aims to create a positive perception about an institution, in this case the government.
By rolling out this extensive awareness campaign, government is seen to be doing something about abuse against women and children.
The emphasis here is on the word “perception”. It’s like a cunning teenager who throws their garbage under the bed to hide it from their parents. The garbage is still there; it’s just buried under this facade of tidiness. The teen has created the perception, without fixing the problem.
Unlike the teen’s room, though, there are severe consequences for not fixing the problem of the high rate of violence against women and children — in many circumstances, the result is death.
In a survey conducted by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) in partnership with the South African Medical Research Council, it is indicated that “one in five (21%)” of women have “experienced physical violence by a partner”. You don’t need to effect any change to create the perception.
This campaign has certainly brought about no change in the abuse of women and children since it was initiated in 1998. Change entails too much work and too many difficult conversations. Change isn’t easy. Therefore they opt for perception — it keeps the status quo intact.
This campaign lies about what abuse is, how it works, who is responsible for it and who is responsible to resolve it.
One of its objectives, as outlined on the government’s website, is to “encourage society to acknowledge that violence against women and children is not a government or criminal justice system problem, but a societal problem”.
Violence against women and children may start as a societal problem, but it is perpetuated and aggravated because of a judicial problem.
The majority of South Africans still live in poverty, suffering inequality and unemployment, which has a direct effect on the high rate of abuse against women and children.
According to StatsSA, “poverty is on the rise in South Africa”, with the poverty head count increasing to 55.5% in the past year. The unemployment rate is at its highest in 13 years. These factors are acknow-ledged by the government as “conditions under which violence thrives” on the same web page on which it is denied that violence against women and children is a government and criminal justice problem.
The government has instituted various laws to assist victims of abuse, including the Domestic Violence Act of 1998, the Children’s Act of 2005, the Maintenance Act of 1998, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000, and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters Act) Amendment Act of 2007.
Despite these, the situation has not improved.
Why have these measures not been sufficient to decrease the rate of violence against women and children? How are these laws being implemented by public servants, the police, court clerks and family court magistrates? Are victims of domestic violence treated fairly and justly?
Perhaps the resources used for the 16 Days campaign would be put to better use by investigating how the existing measures to protect women and children are being implemented.
Some of the measures the government proposes for society to help abused women include wearing a white ribbon during the 16 Days of Activism, volunteering at nongovernmental organisations, joining community policing forums and talking to friends, relatives and colleagues to take a stand against abuse.
These “solutions” create the perception of support but deflect attention away from the real support required from the government.
The reason the government can get away with such a frivolous campaign is because most of the people faced with abuse are too preoccupied with trying to survive to expose the truth about abuse. Many of them are fighting for their basic needs and have few resources to enable them to fight the injustices imposed upon them by the government, the justice system, the abusers and even their own family and friends.
The biggest injustice to women and children is a campaign that does absolutely nothing for victims of abuse. Victims should approach the media and expose the reality of abuse. They should speak about how they are treated by family and friends, by the police, by government clerks and by family court magistrates.
The government and the justice system are accountable to women and children and, by law, they must treat them fairly and justly, and with dignity and respect. When they fail to do so, they must be exposed.
Jennilee Peremore is a communications consultant