As the curtain falls on Women’s Month 2023, there is no better time to reflect on whether inroads were made in safeguarding the welfare of women.
Looking back, organisations put women at the forefront of several programmes completed during the month of August. Stories about women achievers made headlines in the past few weeks.
However, the rights of women will not mean much until the women feel protected by the men around them, in whatever capacity.
Disappointingly, in releasing crime statistics – coincidentally during Women’s Month – Police Minister Bheki Cele said sexual assaults continued to take place in the homes of victims and perpetrators.
In terms of the crime figures, the majority of sexual assaults are still taking place between people that are familiar with each other.
Yes, the people who are supposed to be protecting the women and children are the ones who are sexually assaulting them.
On a positive note, serial rapists are being pursued and incarcerated, the minister noted, and this is prompting a decrease in rapes and other sexual offences.
That said, the police and society at large have to do more to protect women and children from sexual offences, one of the most invasive crimes a human being can commit on another person.
Fighting crime starts at home, and we hereby join the call by the minister and other stakeholders in urging every citizen not to look away.
If you do, it is at that moment that a woman or child is raped or assaulted, and all the gains made during Women’s Month will come to nil.
Cape Times