Opinion by Dr Ruby-Ann Levendal
Director of Transformation at Nelson Mandela University
Unfortunately the common answer is ‘no’, and where we are failing as a nation is that we are not teaching these essential social attitudes and behaviours to young children.
We have had ongoing advocacy and awareness campaigns about gender-based violence (GBV) for so many years, with millions being spent, yet the violence continues unabated, with incidents against women and children showing an upward trend. This confirms that advocacy and awareness programmes are not enough.
What we need are structured programmes starting from pre-primary (Grade RR) all the way through tertiary and post-school education institutions that engage learners and students about their identity, mutual respect, social justice, equality, gender, non-sexism, non-racism, human dignity, human rights and responsible citizenship.
In 1994 we proudly embraced these constitutional principles, but we are failing to embed them in the lived experience of our society. Where are we focusing on the unlearning of discriminatory attitudes and behaviours about gender that too often lead to violence, including GBV, which the President has identified is a pandemic of our society? Where is the political will to deliberately and intentionally change these attitudes and behaviours in our society?
At Nelson Mandela University, as with most of our universities, we have programmes to address GBV, promote positive masculinity and women’s empowerment and safety. We have men’s programmes that help men to reflect on their identity and the factors impacting their understanding of what it means to be a man. We explore human dignity, equality and freedom in their interactions with others, especially women. By the time young people reach university, they should already be well schooled in this, but most are not.
As a society we have become numbed to repeated acts of violence against girls and women, and we neglect the fact that so many women are unable to break the cycle of abuse due to the triple helix of poverty, inequality and unemployment. We have the four-year-old child Nikita from Eldorado who was brutally raped and murdered, and nobody came to her rescue even though they could hear her screams from inside the thin walls of a Zozo hut.
South Africa is plagued by ongoing systemic violence and intergenerational trauma that has to be addressed. Most intergenerational trauma remains untreated and is etched into our DNA, impacting the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of individuals, including anxiety, depression, emotional numbness, difficulty forming relationships, and a heightened sense of vulnerability. We need to understand this and learn how to respond to situations in a more balanced way.
The tragedy is that if you are a girl or woman in South Africa, you are not safe. The Human Science Research Council (HSRC) reports that between July and September 2024, GBV crimes increased nationally. During this period, 957 women were murdered, 1 567 survived attempted murders and 14 366 experienced assaults resulting in grievous bodily harm. In addition, 10 191 rapes were reported. At the end of 2024, HSRC released The First South African National Gender-Based Violence Study. It details the prevalence of physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and economic violence experienced by women in all nine provinces.
https://hsrc.ac.za/news/review/violence-against-women-in-south-africa-intersecting-vulnerabilities/
Reporting rape is too often a harrowing experience for women and SAPS routinely has a shortage of Sexual Assault Evidence Kits at SAPS stations and the Thuthuzela Care Centres. The kits are essential in quality evidence collection to put criminals behind bars. With just over 13% convictions for incidents of gender-based violence and femicide (November 2024 data from SAPS’ Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Investigations Unit (FCS), what message is being sent to survivors? https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/police-its-fight-against-gender-based-violence-and-femicide-26-nov-2024
To support our women students at Nelson Mandela University, we conduct several programmes on and off our campuses discussing women’s growth and empowerment, and providing support, facilitated by social workers and psychologists, for students and staff members who have experienced any form of harassment or GBV. Business leader, Zellah Fuphe, founded Alumni-in-Action at the University of Cape Town, for the free provision of psychosocial support to student GBV survivors, and donated funding to extend the programme to Nelson Mandela University.
There is no denying the bleakness of the situation, but there is some light, with an increase in the number of young men speaking out about this, such as Nathan Msomi who is part of the Gender, Religion and Health programme hosted in the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
“All men need to learn about gender inequality and the root causes of violence,” he says. “For us to unlearn complicit masculinity, we should actively challenge harmful stereotypes, interrupt sexist behaviours, and amplify marginalised voices, even when it’s the voice of our best friend’s girlfriend. We must speak out against abusive behaviour and support those affected.”
https://www.svri.org/faith-gbv-complicit-masculinity/
With influencers promoting a ‘soft life’ on social media, some women are perpetuating toxic masculinity with their material and financial demands being met by older, economically established males. This impacts young men who cannot meet these demands, resulting in them facing lower prospects of attracting young women into relationships. These older men or “blessers” abuse their financial position in quid pro quo ‘situationships’. The same trend is growing among young male students.
Regrettably the image of excessive wealth and lavish lifestyles is being entrenched from high-ranking politicians down, and reinforced on TV and through social media. It is presented as attractive and aspirational to young people and it is derailing the type of example that should be set.
To address all these issues the University is piloting a Social Consciousness and Sustainable Futures Module in a number of our faculties, to be extended to all faculties as part of the curriculum.
Our approach is that no student should leave this university without having developed a sense of social consciousness that sets out to actively oppose harmful stereotypes and sexist attitudes that too easily spiral into abuse and GBV. We are also collaborating with other universities, such as São Paulo University in Brazil, where they have developed programmes that educate children about these issues from the youngest age, in the hope of getting similar programmes in our schools.