Laws protecting women’s rights must be enforced

It is a hallmark of our democracy that it guarantees a wide variety of human rights, all meant to contribute to making ours a more caring and humane society. These include the rights of women, which have historically been ignored, or treated as less important, due to social or cultural prejudice. A story which grabbed the headlines this week, in which a young KwaZulu-Natal woman abandoned her baby because she was apparently unable to look after it, has again shone the spotlight on the rights of women in SA nearly 30 years after the dawn of democracy.

On handing herself over to the police, the woman was arrested and criminally charged before being released on R500 bail. Yet her actions suggest, instead of being a coldblooded individual, this was a desperate woman crying out for help, and one who cared, too, about her baby’s fate. She left the baby with a bag containing nappies, a bottle and a pacifier.

To the baby’s prospective rescuers, she took care to leave a note asking them to “just help her if you can or call authorities”. She added that she had “spoken twice to social workers (who were) delaying to assist”. She raised what she saw as the problem an unresponsive hospital system that made it difficult for women to obtain an abortion.

The response of the system, while probably perfectly legal, is an indictment on our society, that tends to turn the poor and underprivileged, including women, into criminals instead of providing them with support.

Elsewhere in this newspaper we publish the story of how police personnel accused of rape got away with a mere verbal warning, according to reports by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. This in a country where rape is classified as a serious crime. Those on the receiving end of our unequal and often discriminatory system will be justified in asking what the value is of our much-vaunted rights culture and its promises to citizens if society chooses to not put in place the requisite systems to support them.

It is not enough to just legislate the rights of women. As a society, we must take deliberate steps to ensure they are enforceable.