This Women’s Month the Democratic Alliance Women’s Network in KwaZulu-Natal is calling on the Provincial Social Development department to strengthen ties with stakeholders in order to improve the socio-economic situation of many women in our province.
It has become a known fact that there are number of conjoined issues that exist to keep women disadvantaged.
To date, women are still contending with:
• Gender-based violence where they are rendered victims merely on the basis of being women, sidelined
• Economic exclusion which takes away their ability to be empowered and independent of their domestic abusers
• Insufficient social support as seen by a lack of dedicated social workers at police stations to offer trauma support after a rape and GBV incident
• Lack of sustained support to NGOs and abuse shelter facilities by provincial government
We echo the same sentiments as our Provincial Social Development Spokesperson in the Provincial Legislature, Shontel de Boer, during the Social Development budget debate last week that a collaborative effort including stakeholders such as SAPS, Department of Justice, Home Affairs, SASSA, among others is needed to address a number of issues which continue to hinder the prosperity of women.
DAWN KZN also expresses its fullest confidence in the DA’s solution-based approach to these issues, as shared by MPL de Boer, which are:
• Further employment and resourcing of social workers
• Prioritized audits to establish legitimate NGOs and support legitimate organisations – these are first port of calls for abused women
• Sourcing and utilizing unused government spaces and buildings as women shelters
• Ongoing training for SAPS officers on GBV and rape cases
• GBV-based task teams
• Collaborative initiative between Education and Social Development departments to educate women on issues facing them, including high rate of teenage pregnancies
It is only through an inclusive approach that much can be achieved. This is why we reiterate our call to the Department of Social Development to widen its scope of partnership in order to ensure that more key players share in the responsibility of making change.
It is often said that in many respects the world and our society have become a village. It is now time to embrace that spirit and lend a hand in the turning the tide of many challenges that work against the advancement and safety of women.