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Women’s Day launch in South Africa

Um Apelo à Igualdade de Gênero pelo Fim da Pobreza

Today at an International Women’s Day event hosted by the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in Johannesburg, Carrie Shelver of the local NGO People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA), portrayed a sad South African reality by highlighting several brutal acts of violence and humiliation against women:

“For many women still, International Women’s Day is no cause for celebration. Instead it is a stark reminder that their realities and lives are not led by a legal framework and that access to some forms of justice is for the few.”  

Shelver continued:

“Fewer resources are going to cases of violence against women. Indeed, the most vulnerable are deemed least deserving of protection: women who are poor, who have a different sexual orientation, different immigration status, are less likely to access justice. The perpetrators, because of their positions in society, personally or professionally, are seen as unable to commit certain offences. POWA calls for an immediate end to this impunity.”

GCAP co-chair and Feminist taskforce spokesperson, Ana Agostino, emphasised the need for governments to take urgent action on gender equality to help end poverty:

“It is a huge step foreword that gender equality is now recognised within and outside GCAP as necessary for the eradication of poverty. We cannot continue to rely on women to ensure children go to school and their family has food, all out of their own power but without support from governments. That is why financing for gender equality is a major campaign objective this year.”

Jody Kollapen, Chair of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), instantly adhered to Agostino’s call by officially associating the Commission with GCAP’s campaign on gender equality. Though recognizing the need to end impunity, Kollapen noted that gender equality cannot be achieved by rights alone;

“In South Africa we have focused perhaps too much on rights and not on values. We say we have to treat women equally because it is their legal right. But we should be teaching young boys and men that women have equal dignity, and are thus worthy of equal treatment; legal rights can be changed and violated. This is a discourse that we need to promote in South Africa, and internationally.”

GCAP co-chair and Secretary General of CIVICUS, Kumi Naidoo concluded the meeting by placing gender equality in a global perspective:

“The gap between the rich and poor is growing astronomically, and unsustainably.  What Western Europe and North America spend on pet food can supply 3 nutritional meals for every family on the continent of Africa, and cows are subsidised by more than the income of half the families in the world. Something fundamental has to change”

Naidoo went on to explain how 2008 represents a unique opportunity to lobby around aid, trade and debt again.  The alliance will mark the mid point of the Millennium Development Goals and push for a renewed commitment for poverty eradication to be prioritised in budgets and policymaking as well as empowering civil society to reclaim their rights. GCAP will lead on the Stand Up action on October 17th and on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as part of the Every Human Has Rights campaign.

For more information contact:  Ciara O’Sullivan, ciara.osullivan@civicus.org cel + 34 679 594 809 or Micha Hollestelle on  + 27 766 33 85 25.

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