I had the opportunity to meet Pumeza Mafani on my visit to Johannesburg as part of the #LiveHealthyLiveWell initiative by @jnj. In our country, the stories and statistics surrounding rape and sexual offences are mind-boggling and scary. It’s people like her who inspire me every day with their active work to help women and their community.
The Mother & Her Thoughts
I was at home and we needed to do the dishes, I asked my boy and he said why can’t his sister do it, it’s her job? As a mom I immediately questioned him,what do you need to do dishes and he replied soap and water and I asked him if his sister uses anything related to her gender to wash the dishes and he said no mom, no ways.
He had his answer, the only thing that separates him and his sister were a few physical parts which obviously don’t define the jobs they can do.
I met Pumeza Mafani on my visit to Johannesburg as part of the #LiveHealthyLiveWell initiative by @jnj. She’s a mom of two, national coordinator of the Sexual Offenses in South Africa and part of Vital Voices. Vital Voices was created to make space for women to be heard. Through policy, advocacy and activism, Vital Voices work to secure and improve the health and safety of their communities in South Africa.
With over 20,000 minor girls being raped every year, South Africa has the highest sexual crimes in the world.
Some may think that rape is only prevalent in our rural areas, but sadly the stats suggest that it’s in both rural and urban cities. The society holds the government responsible and the government feels that society needs to take ownership too. When we meet rapists they believe that they are a superior species and the woman is weak. It’s her role to be weak, submissive and not stand up. If she does, then they want to silence her. “Often, the reason people don’t report is that they fear nothing would be done or they wouldn’t be believed. The question remains, who fills in the gaps?
I am a part of this movement because I want to fill the gap between the government and the civil society. Many offenders get away with these crimes. I have often questioned myself and others – how do we really change this? My only answer to this is, it starts from home.
Of course, I wished and hope there was something similar back home in India where
We have 106 Rapes Per Day and 4 in 10 Victims were minors in 2018 according to NCRB. The report showed that in the year 2016, a total of 38,947 cases of rape were registered in the country under POSCO.
Be the change!
Neha Savla
Janani S Koushik
Vaishnavi Venkatraman
