Violence Against Women
Source: TNA
Women leaders in Parliament have called on female MPs to influence decisions on the adoption of tough policy measures to curb gender-based violence.
Chairperson of the multi-party women’s caucus in Parliament Beauty Dlulane and chairperson of the portfolio committee on women, children and people with disabilities Dorothy Ramodibe, on Monday slammed continued incidents of violence against women and children and called for female MPs to influence policies to fight the scourge.
Speaking at a seminar in Parliament to discuss measures to fight sexual violence, the parliamentarians told gender organisations that the time had come to tackle the escalating violence against women and children.
Dlulane, an ANC MP, said women’s lives were under constant threat.
Not a day passed by in South Africa without reports of sexual violence against women and children.
“Female MPs must use their positions to influence policy (on gender-based violence). This is a platform to inform female MPs of the violence against women and children and that action must be taken to combat the violence,” she told the seminar.
“Our collective effort should provide action against this scourge,” Dlulane said.
Ramodibe said convening a meeting of MPs and civil society groups opposed to sexual abuse against women and children showed how serious Parliament was against these cases.
Sarah Trafford, a researcher for the NGO Embrace Dignity, said prostitutes were also victims of sexual violence because they were abused by pimps.
“Prostitution is a form of sexual exploitation. It treats women as sex objects. Most prostituted people are from disadvantaged groups,” she told the seminar.
Most of the sex workers end up using alcohol to take away the pain of the environment in which they work.
Her organisation wanted a law that would criminalise prostitution and pimping.
She said the sex trade was banned in some countries while in others it was partially criminalised.
Trafford said women needed to be protected from being involved in the industry.