Women’s issues
GBV: A pandemic on top of a pandemic
Within just nine days of the national lockdown declared by President Cyril Ramaphosa more than 2 300 complaints of gender-based violence (GBV) were registered by the South African Police Service.
The gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic had already begun to be felt early in the lockdown.
Women and girls, who carry a disproportionate amount of unpaid labour in homes in South Africa, also had to carry a disproportionate burden of the impact from the lockdown. With school closures, the additional burden of child-care invariably fell onto women and girls, as well as caring for other vulnerable, ill or aged family members.
The livelihoods of women traders were also severely impacted by the closure of spaza shops, and travel bans prevented thousands of women migrant workers reaching their children.
In addition, interrupted access to sexual and reproductive health is one of the recognised gender impacts of pandemics.
“Women and girls are faced with a ‘double whammy' of COVID-19related trauma,” says Phinah Kodisang, CEO of the Soul City Institute.
“GBV undermines the safety, dignity, health and human rights of thousands of women and girls, many of whom were locked down in isolation with those they fear the most.”
As South Africans adhered to the restrictions imposed on everyone to stay at home, the lockdown brought into stark relief the interconnectedness of the human right to health, social security, access to water and sanitation and education.
The swift official responses to the COVID-19 pandemic indicated a willingness and capacity to address pressing health and social crises in a coordinated manner that eliminates the silos that bedevil the day-to-day provision of essential services in South Africa.
In ensuring that official responses to COVID-19 do not focus solely on health, but also on the provision of psycho-social support and the urgent relief measures for the poor, there is a significant recognition that silos are inefficient.
Most significantly, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the cold, ugly reality of GBV in South Africa and the impunity with continues to drive the epidemic of violence. Only 148 suspects were arrested from the 2 300 complaints registered during the first nine days of the lockdown. Furthermore, the 2 300 complaints received during the first two weeks of the lockdown pale in comparison to the 15 924 complaints received during the first three months of 2020, or the 87 920 complaints received by the GBV Command Centre to date.
We do hope that beyond COVID-19, things will never be the same again. And that post the lockdown, the same determination and national unity will be brought to bear to fight the epidemic of GBV.