‘Bosses, let women join our march’

The organisers of the #TheTotalShutdown want South African employers to give women time off work to attend today’s nationwide marches.

There will be an intersectional women’s march against gender-based violence at 6.30am in front of the EL Museum this morning, said activist LeighAnn van der Merwe on Tuesday night. She is director of the Social Health Empowerment Feminist Collective of Transgender Women of Africa (She) in East London.

The shutdown movement‚ which started on social media, has released a letter for women to submit to their employers.

In the letter‚ the movement explained that on Wednesday‚ women from all backgrounds “seek to bring national attention to‚ and demand sustainable action against‚ genderbased violence that is escalating” by presenting a memorandum at the Union Buildings in Pretoria‚ Parliament in Cape Town and the Supreme Court of Appeals in Bloemfontein.

Other women-only marches are expected to take place in many other towns and cities in the country.

The movement’s spokesperson, Lucy Bowles, could not predict the number of women who would join the marches.

“We would love for the numbers to be sky high‚ that much is obvious. But the dynamics of many women disallow them to come to the ground and march alongside us.” –