It’s time to go beyond lip service to end Gender-Based Violence
Sarah Baartman, a Khoisan woman, endured extreme dehumanisation and exploitation in 19th-century Europe. Both in life and death she symbolises the abuse of African women by racist and patriarchal systems. Sarah was stripped of her dignity, displayed in human zoos, sexually, physically and emotionally abused for the amusement of the elite.
This uncomfortable history is not just history – in many ways it is a haunting mirror of the present.
The world still sees women’s bodies as commodities, women’s labour as free and their opinions as not worthy. Systems of oppression continue to silence women’s voices in public and private spaces leading to economic exclusion and general disempowerment of women.
During the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) summit, where deep reflections on the progress towards the Beijing platform of action are taking place, we must ask ourselves the hard questions and go beyond lip service to making the actual changes that will make a difference in women’s lives and end Gender Based Violence.
