Say No to Femicide and Brutality Meted Out on Women

They say silence is the best ship home but not always when that silence means death, trauma and pain. Gender-based violence, sexual harassment and abuse should not have a room for negotiation as it is wrong, against human dignity and above all disrupts peace. Nobody should experience such ill.

On 21st November we stand with South Africa either virtually or physically during the shutdown in advocacy for justice. There is a need to let out what we have been holding back, show its full impact though forced to be strong and productive in family set-ups and at workplaces. We need to stand strong together, to create awareness and help secure a safe tomorrow for our women and girls. Any brutality meted out on a single woman is an offence to the entire gender. We need to be woke and grab our rights fully, no compromise.

It starts with South Africa whose femicide rate has increased six times higher than the global average and sums up to a global call. From one sister to another because no woman deserves brutality.

The shutdown is in honour of the victims whose lives didn’t give them a chance to speak up, those who spoke up but were ignored, doubted or blamed for the ill meted out to them. Those who pursued justice but were denied it, those trying to grow past the trauma but the scars still bleed, those who survived have made it their duty to fight for others, those who lost their spark because they got way too crippled to rise again and to those who lost their life fighting for justice they will never experience.

Enough is enough, in solidarity we say no to violence, sexual harassment and abuse and murder, children and women deserve to live in peace freely and not in fear. There is nothing golden in silence by which a woman was buried too soon and life changed entirely for the worse. She is some’s daughter, sister and mother, her life matters. We won't be silent when her silence does not translate to peace and her pain is induced. We will speak until we all rise together as a whole fearless with a secured future for every woman regardless of race, religion or social status.

No more fear.No more violence and definitely no more silence when that silence carries pain and echoes a damaged future if not addressed.Peace we demand and peace we must get so that our children, sisters and mothers live fully and fearlessly.

I stand with South Africa 🇿🇦 on the planned Shutdown, I stand with women globally. Because silence gives room for escalation!