Swami Vivekananda, an Indian monk who took Hinduism and yoga to the Western world in the late 1800s, proclaimed: “The best thermometer to the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women.”
He also said: “There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved.”
Several decades later, the lot of women is still far from perfect. Millions of women continue to live in sadness.
Each year we mark 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. But while this campaign gets under way, violence against women and children continues unabated. Domestic violence is the biggest cause of injury and death to women worldwide.
Violence against women takes many forms - physical, sexual, economic and psychological - but all of these represent a violation of human dignity and human rights, and have lasting consequences for women and their communities. Every day, women are murdered, physically and sexually assaulted, threatened and humiliated by their partners, in their homes.
It is estimated that in South Africa at least 150 women are raped a day. And one out of every four women experiences domestic violence. In the last week, we have mourned the brutal deaths of three-year-old Courtney Pieters and Karabo Mokoena, of Joburg.
Pieters had been raped twice, allegedly by a man she had known for most of her short life. She was killed and buried in a shallow grave. Mokoena’s death has sparked harrowing tales of abuse.
Her boyfriend has been charged with premeditated murder and defeating the ends of justice. South Africa adopted the 16 Days of Activism campaign in 1998 as one of the intervention strategies towards creating a society free of violence.
But while the campaign continues to raise awareness among South Africans about the negative impact of violence against women and children, statistics continue to soar.
Are we a society with feeling? Is it not time for us to mobilise as a community to promote collective responsibility in the fight to eradicate violence against women and children?
Failure to recognise this as a societal problem results in failure to eradicate this scourge in our communities. The solution to this serious problem lies with us all.
Let us speak out against women and child abuse and encourage silent female victims to talk about abuse and ensure they get help.
Women are the foundation of society. Without women, and without respect for women, society will crumble.