Sonke opens new global advocacy office in Geneva, Switzerland
In September 2012, Sonke established a small office in Geneva which will focus on global advocacy, fundraising and training of key international partners, including especially UN agencies and international NGOs. We have every expectation that this will increase Sonke’s profile and influence and deepen the impact of our work. We will evaluate its effectiveness regularly […]
Sonke Urges DRC Government to Protect Hospital Director after Violent Attack
Sonke Gender Justice notes with grave concern the assassination attempt on the life of Dr Denis Mukwege, a world-renowned obstetric surgeon who is founder and medical director of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he and his staff have helped treat over 30,000 survivors of sexual violence. His many honours for his work with survivors of […]
Committee Chairperson compromises Parliament’s integrity on Traditional Courts Bill
Today [October 24, 2012] many South Africans expected the National Council of Province’s Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development to finally deliberate on the Traditional Courts Bill following the public hearings. This is what the Committee Chairperson, Mr. Tjetha Mofokeng, indicated would be done when the consultations were concluded in September. However, Mr. Mofokeng’s […]
Sonke is a Beneficiary of the Sisters with Blisters Walk
Engaging Men and Boys to Transform Discriminatory Social Norms
Sonke Gender Justice, Men for Gender Equality Sweden and Wikigender.org invite you to participate in Wikigender’s online discussion forum around the issue of Engaging Men and Boys to Transform Discriminatory Social Norms. The discussion thread is open and receiving comments, and the parallel Twitter conversation uses the hashtag #engagingmen. The inputs from the Wikigender community will […]
“Violence in South Africa: What Can We Do?”
McIntosh Polela makes a retraction, “My tweet about Jub Jub on Tuesday night was in poor taste.”
The Detention Justice Forum’s statement against Mcintosh Polela, released on 17 October, quickly gained media traction, and Mr. Polela has since retracted his statement via his Twitter account. On 18 October, he wrote: “My tweet about Jub Jub on Tuesday night was in poor taste. I profoundly regret posting & hereby retract it. Je suis […]
Civil society calls on Hawks spokesperson, Mcintosh Polela, to retract statement
The Detention Justice Forum, a civil society coalition that seeks to protect the human rights of those that are detained, calls for Macintosh Polela, spokesperson for the Hawks, to publically retract his statement made over Twitter on the news of JubJub’s sentencing: “I trust that JubJub’s supporters gave him a jar of Vaseline to take […]
Time to break the judiciary’s glass ceiling for women
On Friday 12 October, the Democratic Governance & Rights Unit (DGRU) of the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Sonke Gender Justice, lodged a formal complaint with the office of the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) calling on the CGE to investigate the lack of gender transformation in the judiciary. Research conducted by the DGRU […]
Sonke gains support for MMC from SADTU Provincial General Council
The Provincial General Council (PGC) is one of the most important structures of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) at the provincial level. The PGC sits between the SADTU congresses and its structure is able to make decisions on policy issues including supporting the province’s MMC roll-out. The Council consists of provincial office bearers, […]
Sonke brings together MenEngage Africa partners and UNFPA officers
Last week, (October 1-3) Sonke and UNFPA co-hosted a three-day long meeting bringing together over 70 MenEngage Africa partners and delegates from UNFPA country offices. The workshop trained UNFPA officers on gender transformative programming, equipping them with information and skills to review the gender dimensions of their current programmes and to start new projects that […]
Sonke and Just Detention International Report to the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services
Sonke has submitted a report with Just Detention International to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services regarding the Department of Correctional Services 2011/2012 Annual Report. This is a precursor to an oral submission on 10 October. The summary is below and the report is available for download. » Download the report (650.33 kB) Sexual abuse […]
UN News Highlights Sonke’s Advocacy to Prevent Rape and HIV in SA’s Prisons
Dealing with sexual abuse in prison CAPE TOWN, 5 October 2012 (PlusNews) – “Here is the mess,” the warder said when he shoved Michael Adams* into an overcrowded cell in Allandale Prison, near South Africa’s Cape Town, 10 years ago. That first night, Adams was raped by two men, and he was repeatedly assaulted during […]
Nyanga Soccer Tournament Festival for Unite As One Campaign
Sonke Gender Justice together with Scalabrini Centre, MSAT, City of Cape Town and SAFA Nyanga LFA under the Unite As One Campaign hosted a 4-day Soccer Tournament Festival in Nyanga during the week of 25 to 28 September 2012 in celebration of Heritage Day. The Unite As One Campaign aims to create a South African […]
Sisters with Blisters Walk for Sonke Gender Justice
Sonke is grateful to be an official beneficiary of the annual Sisters with Blisters charity event, aimed at raising much-needed awareness about women and child abuse in South Africa. If you’d like to participate in this year’s Sisters with Blisters walk, here are the details: Date: 24th November 2012 Venue: Bryanston High School (Please note that […]
Schools Battle Teen Pregnancies
Published in The New Age – 3 Sept 2012 by Francis Hweshe Activist group Sonke Gender Justice has lashed out at “sugar daddies” amid attempts by a city school to contain learner pregnancies due to irresponsible sexual behaviour. Principal at Maitland Secondary School Riedwaan Kenny said seven girls in his school have fallen pregnant since […]
MenEngage Africa youth tell their stories
Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, South Africa, Rwanda… these are the home countries of the ten participants from the MenEngage Africa network who took part in the recent Digital Stories workshop in August 2012. Young Africans working on issues related to gender-based violence were selected to craft a personal story about […]
Sonke Newsletter Issue 12 Published
We’re pleased to announce the publication of the twelfth issue of our electronic newsletter. Issue 12 explores case studies, personal stories and topical issues affecting gender equality and human rights in South Africa today. Read Issue 12 here.
Traditional Courts Bill Hearing dates have changed
The dates for the TCB Hearings in Cape Town have been changed. The hearings will now be held on the 18, 19, 20 and possibly 21 September. The deadline for written submissions remains Tuesday 4 September (tomorrow) although we encourage you to still submit submissions even if the deadline has passed.
Civil Society Organisations question Minister Radebe’s manoeuvres on Traditional Courts Bill at Women’s Parliament
The Alliance for Rural Democracy is perplexed that the final resolution on the Traditional Courts Bill of the Women’s Parliament, held on 30-31 August, fails to support the withdrawal of the Bill. Rural women have long implored Parliament to scrap the Bill and start again on a clean footing, however, women parliamentarians have ignored these […]
Fatherhood groups poised to kick off
The MenCare campaign, launched on 8 August 2011 in Soweto, has just celebrated its first South African birthday. The first year focused on two dimensions: shifting social norms through media such as radio and print, and establishing relationships with policymakers for advocacy and lobbying. The new year was entered by adding the third dimension of […]
Shad K: “Keep Shining” – a voice from the margins
Rap and hip-hop music is frequently criticized for its misogynist treatment of women. Many popular songs in this music genre reveal aggressive and sometimes violent attitudes towards women, with women being depicted solely as sexual objects, commonly called derogatory names such “bitches” and “hoes”, and in extreme cases, deserving forms of violence for disobeying. Along […]
Dear President Zuma: retract your misogynistic statements!
I must begin by thanking you for the recognition you bestowed on the many gender equality and women’s rights organisations in the country, in your speech on National Women’s Day. You said, “[Government] are therefore pleased to work with projects such as Brothers for Life… Soul City and the Sonke Gender Justice [Network]. These organisations […]
Sonke and UCT host MenEngage Africa Training Initiative
Sonke Gender Justice and the University of Cape Town hosted the first MenEngage Africa Training Initiative, which took place in August 2012. What is the MenEngage Africa Training Initiative? The MenEngage Africa Training Initiative (MATI) is a 10-day residential course with the overall goal of increasing the leadership capacity and advocacy skills of men and […]
