This article was published in the April 2008 issue of Resonances, a citizens’ information monthly drawn up by young activists.
“We like our minis.” “There are no shortcuts in women’s rights.” These were the messages written on banners by hundreds of men and women, who demonstrated hand in hand in March 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa. This demonstration took place after an attack on a young woman by a taxi driver, simply because she was wearing a miniskirt. Remmoho Women’s Forum [1] and People Opposing Women’s Abuse, organised two demonstrations of support, in order to raise awareness of women’s’ rights, still fragile in this country. Thousands of women use cabs every day, a lot of them have to face drivers’ insults, sexist stickers, sexual abuse and sometimes even rape because their clothes are considered indecent. These acts, more and more frequent over the past 10 years, are rarely the subject of police investigations, nor are they denounced by the media.
Breaking the silence on harassment
Whilst the Constitution adopted in 1996 contains an article promulgating sexual equality, in daily life women are still facing the opposition of many traditionalists, who believe that sexual equality is not in line with the preservation of customs and traditions. It is obvious that laws regarding violence on women will remain an empty shell until there are structures, or a real political willingness to guarantee their implementation.
This is why the RWF would like the criminal judicial system to take sexual attacks and violence against women more seriously, and maintains that it is essential that this not be concealed. During demonstrations, the Forum asked victims to denounce the violence they have suffered and to use all possible institutional rights of appeal, such as the Commission of Human Rights and the Commission on sexual equality, in order to defend their rights.
800 women demonstrate in Johannesbourg to gain respect. / © RWF
Public opinion is favourable, government is reacting and community leaders are showing solidarity
During the demonstrations, the public reacted positively, even though some taxi drivers dropped their trousers to protest and called the female demonstrators “prostitutes”. This event provoked such a debate that the department of community security for Gauteng province, whose major towns are Pretoria and Johannesburg, have decided to launch an awareness campaign in the coming months, on the insecurity that thousands of women experience.
The aim of this campaign is to inform people of the complaint procedures to follow, as well as to educate people on their right to freedom of speech. The government has urged all men, and especially taxi drivers, to stop any kind of violence or sexist attitudes towards the mothers and daughters of their country. Moreover, they have promised to review the taxi drivers’ code of conduct, in order to add a clause forbidding violence against women. The National House of Leaders, created to answer to the needs and concerns of communities, and which brings together representatives of communities bound under traditional laws and customs, also took part. They invited “the whole nation to act to protect our young women against archaic men who use their culture as a means to attack women” and declared that “at no time has our culture ever dictated that young girls wear dresses that are longer than knee-length, nor allowed men to attack women who choose to wear mini skirts.”
Also read: Resonances Africa N° 23 - April 2008
