Sonke Gender Justice

Publication Type: Reports

  • Emerging effects of COVID-19 pandemic on gender-based violence in Africa

    Emerging effects of COVID-19 pandemic on gender-based violence in Africa

    The emergence of Covid-19 has significantly contributed to the increase in gender-based violence in many societies. This study investigates the trends of this violence in Cameroon, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa. 

    The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected individuals and communities in a variety of ways. Within a couple of months, the virus had infected millions of people across the world in high, middle and low-income countries. The Director General of the World Health Organization announced the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19), a global pandemic on 11 March 2020 (WHO 2020). In an effort to control the spread of the virus, governments around the world and in Africa put in place lockdown measures that have restricted movement, with citizens being advised to stay at home and observe social distancing. The pandemic and the related lockdown measures worsened vulnerabilities for GBV, which had various impacts which were exacerbated in contexts with weak health systems, weak rule of law, existing high levels of violence against women and girls (VAWG), and gender inequality.

    As the situation unfolded, anecdotal evidence indicated towards an increase in GBV in developed countries. As the virus spread and as governments across the continent implemented the restrictive measures designed to control the spread, there was little evidence especially within the African context regarding the effects of the pandemic and the various measures on gender-based violence (GBV). Generating evidence around the impact of the pandemic in Africa would provide data that could be utilized to develop programs to respond to GBV during the pandemic period by reducing risks of GBV through prevention and mitigation strategies. The research findings would also be important in strengthening national and community-based response systems to prevent and mitigate GBV while enabling survivors to access care and support, amidst and post the COVID-19 pandemic. Specific focus was given to selected African countries of the South, East, West and Central African countries. These countries were:: SA, Cameroon, DRC and Kenya. These countries were selected because they had experienced a heavy burden of the pandemic in Africa, and had varying lock down measures implemented which was deemed able to provide good comparisons.

  • Engaging South African fathers with programme interventions and policies

    Engaging South African fathers with programme interventions and policies

    Families, parents and caregivers play a vital role in child well-being and development. The family, for example, plays the primary socialisation role in establishing a child’s identity. It is the family that also provides children with love, care, provision and protection. Having said this, while families can be the greatest source of support for children; they may also be a source of harm. This holds particularly true for South Africa, where violence against children remains alarmingly high and children continue to experience corporal punishment and emotional abuse in their own homes by parents or other caregivers. Fathers are an often misunderstood element within this context of South African families, yet fatherhood is an important entry point towards improving children’s lives. This paper delivered at the 2019 African Child Trauma conference was written by Wessel van den Berg from Sonke and Gloria Khoza from UNICEF SA to describe interventions and policies to support gender equal and non violent fatherhood in South Africa. The paper draws significantly on this programme brief on the same topic produced by Sonke Gender Justice with support from UNICEF SA.

    Read the full 2019 conference publication.

  • Breaking the Cycle of Intergenerational Violence

    Breaking the Cycle of Intergenerational Violence

    Exposure to violence in childhood can have severe physical, emotional, and mental health consequences and is intimately linked with the likelihood of perpetrating or experiencing intimate partner violence in adulthood. This process whereby violence in childhood is linked to violence in adulthood can be disrupted if children and adolescents are provided with quality, targeted interventions that meet their psychological and social support needs. In this new literature review commissioned by Promundo, the authors discuss psychosocial interventions that show promise in disrupting cycles of violence across many settings in high- and low-income countries, in individual and group/community settings, and by formally-trained professionals as well as community-trained facilitators.

  • MenEngage Africa Strategy to Strengthen Youth Advocacy for Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

    MenEngage Africa Strategy to Strengthen Youth Advocacy for Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

    This Youth SRHR Strategy is aligned with the MenEngage Africa Strategic Plan 2019-2023. It has also been developed in line with the Maputo Plan of Action 2016-2030 for the Operationalisation of the Continental Policy Framework for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, and the Southern African Development Community’s Strategy for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the SADC Region 2019-2030.

    The three strategic focus areas are:

    1. Strengthening comprehensive sexuality education (CSE)
    2. Addressing gender-based violence and harmful cultural practices, and
    3. Mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS.
  • Engaging Men in GBV and HIV prevention, SRHR promotion and parenting

    Engaging Men in GBV and HIV prevention, SRHR promotion and parenting

    This report explores the strength and weakness of selected relevant policies, laws and plans in terms of engaging men and boys; and provides recommendations for how such policies can improve the way in which they include men and boys, account for their needs, enable them to support their partners, children and peers and facilitate their role as advocates for change. The report examines five key areas for engaging men that are crucial for gender equality:

    1. HIV and AIDS;
    2. Gender-based violence (GBV);
    3. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR);
    4. Parenting; and
    5. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Rights.
  • Asijiki Coalition: Sex Work and Covid-19 Webinar

    Asijiki Coalition: Sex Work and Covid-19 Webinar

    This is a report of the webinar hosted by the Asijiki Coalition on the 8th July 2020. The webinar explored the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of sex workers and the continued unlawful policing of sex work, as well as recent policy developments that support the continued call for the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa. The Asijiki Coalition for the Decriminalisation of Sex Work (“Asijiki”) is a group of sex workers, activists, advocates and human rights defenders who advocate for law reform for the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa.

    This is part of a wider conversation to reduce human rights violations experienced by sex workers as perpetrated by law enforcement; and contributes to the aims and objectives of the Positive Policing Partnership (PPP) to catalyse positive change in the operational policing experience of sex workers through evidence-based research, policy interventions and actions.

    Facilitated by Ishtar Lakhani, an activist and creative activism consultant, the panel included five powerful speakers: Kholi Buthelezi from the national sex worker movement Sisonke, Chriscy Blouws from the Women’s Legal Centre (WLC), Dr Tlaleng Mofakeng from the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) in South Africa, Skye Wheeler from Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Duduzile Dlamini from the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT).

  • Eastern Cape Liquor Board Complaint Report

    Eastern Cape Liquor Board Complaint Report

    This report aims to highlight an aspect of Sonke Gender Justice’s work within its local government accountability (LGA) project in the Eastern Cape province. Our complaint with the Eastern Cape Liquor Board (ECLB) is rooted in Sonke’s mandate of ensuring access to justice and
    information for all who reside in South Africa. Too often, we find that there is a trend of entrenchment of a culture of state secrecy or inaccessibility, which makes democratic processes all the more fragile and subject to danger. Section 32(1) of the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (the Constitution), provides that ‘everyone has the right of access to records or/and information held by the state and any information held by another person and that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights’. Sonke’s access to justice mandate works to ensure that there is a strengthened and deepened popular understanding of the right to information as both a Constitutional right and an inherent human right.

  • Towards harm reduction programmes with sex worker clients in South Africa

    Towards harm reduction programmes with sex worker clients in South Africa

    This report explores possible harm reduction approaches to a sex worker client intervention in the South African context. It considers the current evidence base on client interventions globally and sets out key recommendations for an effective client intervention programme.
    Drawing on this framework and recommendations, the report concludes with an example of a curriculum which could be used as a possible approach to a client intervention plus an educational booklet targeted at sex worker clients.

  • Women and Girls’ Experiences of Gender-Based Violence on Public Transport in Gauteng & the Western Cape Province

    Women and Girls’ Experiences of Gender-Based Violence on Public Transport in Gauteng & the Western Cape Province

    Transport systems have tended to function in ways that prioritise men’s needs over those of women, which has led to public transport being described as ‘an institution through which hegemonic masculinity is maintained’, where women are at greater risk of violence, sexual harassment and sexual assault. Violence in public places, particularly on public transport systems, reduces the freedom of movement for women and girls, as well as of gender non-conforming persons and individuals of other vulnerable populations like the elderly and persons with disabilities. It therefore places vulnerable groups at risk, which in turn impacts their mobility, safety and overall health and wellbeing.

    This report presents the findings of a study conducted in Gauteng and the Western Cape amongst women and girls who use public transport, particularly mini-bus taxis, buses and Metrorail trains. It documents women and girls’ lived experiences of GBV, sexual harassment and crime perpetrated against them, as commuters of public transport. The report also presents safe public transport practices in other countries for adaptation in South Africa and highlights recommendations and proposed interventions to address GBV on public transport, particularly in the Western Cape and Gauteng – and applicable to other areas in South Africa.

  • Positive policing practices and sex work

    Positive policing practices and sex work

    The report of the Positive Policing Partnership (PPP) Roundtable that took place on 22 May 2019 in Cape Town. The roundtable comprised a panel of five experts from the sex work, law enforcement and civil society sectors. Through discussing ways of creating more positive relationships between law enforcement and sex workers, the purpose was to contribute to the aims and objectives of the Positive Policing Partnership – and through more positive relationships to reduce human rights violations experienced by sex workers as perpetrated by law enforcement.

  • Migration and health in Southern Africa

    Migration and health in Southern Africa

    This report captures a two-day programme of presentations, panel discussions and group discussions at the regional symposium on gender, migration, health and public policy. The aim of day one was to discuss a number of migration-related topics including: health and universal health care (UHC) in Southern Africa, researching migration and health, associated ethical and methodological challenges, and reflecting on the politics and practice of migration and health research. Day one also included the launch of the UCL-Lancet Commission on Migration and Health in South Africa. Day 2 of the symposium focussed on ‘Gender, Migration, Health and Public Policy: Improving gendered responses to migration and health across the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’. The aim was to present feedback from a research report on gender, migration and health and to develop a joint plan of action amongst stakeholders and participants for improving gendered responses to migration and health in SADC.

  • “They treated me as if I was nothing”

    “They treated me as if I was nothing”

    This report analyses the gendered impact of the closure of, and decisions to close, Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) in South Africa, with an emphasis on the impacts experienced by women, children, and LGBTIQ+ identifying asylum seekers living in and around Cape Town. The impact analysis is based on a literature and media review plus in-depth interviews conducted with sixteen key informants from the asylum seeker and refugee community living in and around Cape Town and with experts working in the field of asylum seeker and refugee assistance.

  • Gender, Migration, and Health in SADC

    Gender, Migration, and Health in SADC

    This report explores policy responses to migration, health and gender – with a focus on women and girls – in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). As a region associated with high levels of population mobility, a high communicable and non-communicable disease burden, poor maternal and child health outcomes, pervasive gender inequity, and struggling public healthcare systems, SADC poses a number of challenges – and opportunities – to policy makers and those working with policy. Based on a brief review of the existing literature; the identification and analysis of relevant policy frameworks at the national, regional, continental and global levels; and interviews with key stakeholders and policy-makers, this report explores if, and if so how, responses to migration and health engage with gender, particularly the needs of women and girls in SADC. It also provides key recommendations that are based on a set of guiding principles for key actors responsible for developing and implementing responses to migration, health and gender.

  • Engaging South African fathers

    Engaging South African fathers

    This programme brief provides a review of programmes that promote or facilitate the involvement of fathers and father figures in their children’s lives. It provides an overview of parenting programmes across the world and the results of the MenCare South Africa Childcare and Protection Programme’s evaluation, and finally makes recommendations for policies and programmes to encourage the promotion of responsive, non-violent fathers as caregivers in South Africa.

  • Stakeholder Dialogue: Refugee Reception Office Litigation and Advocacy Strategies

    Stakeholder Dialogue: Refugee Reception Office Litigation and Advocacy Strategies

    In April 2019, activists and civil society organisations held a stakeholder dialogue in Cape Town to discuss problems facing refugees in South Africa. The last eight years have seen the Department of Home Affairs shutting down Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng, leaving refugees with fewer options, and needing to travel long distances to register their refugee status. Cases have been heard by the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Appeals that highlight challenges that asylum seekers face due to the closures, with orders handed down for the Department of Home Affairs to reopen the RROs in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. The Stakeholder Dialogue sought to take stock of these challenges and to find ways to intensify advocacy efforts for refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa.

  • Final report on the official launching of MenEngage Network Mali

    Final report on the official launching of MenEngage Network Mali

    The Mali network of MenEngage Africa Alliance was officially launched at a workshop chaired by Mali’s Permanent Secretary of the National Gender Policy, Tounkara Sophie Souko on the 11th and 12th of July 2019. The workshop was realised thanks to the joint efforts of the government of Mali and the Secretariat of MenEngage Mali – Global Institute for Women’s Empowerment Group (GIWE Group), together with their strategic partners, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

  • State of the World’s Fathers 2019 – Executive Summary

    State of the World’s Fathers 2019 – Executive Summary

    This report has a big ambition: we are calling for nothing less than full equality between women and men, in the workplace and in the home. The third State of the World’s Fathers is rooted firmly in a feminist analysis of care, and the belief that unpaid care work must be valued as much as paid work, and shared equally between men and women.

  • State of the World’s Fathers 2019

    State of the World’s Fathers 2019

    This report has a big ambition: we are calling for nothing less than full equality between women and men, in the workplace and in the home. The third State of the World’s Fathers is rooted firmly in a feminist analysis of care, and the belief that unpaid care work must be valued as much as paid work, and shared equally between men and women.

  • A Gender and Migration Analysis of 2019 Election Manifestos

    A Gender and Migration Analysis of 2019 Election Manifestos

    Sonke Gender Justice has compiled a short analysis of the manifestos of nine political parties contesting the 2019 National Elections. The analysis addresses traditional gender issues such as female representation, gender equality, and issues relating to LGBTIQA and sexual and reproductive health – while sex work, as well as migration, were included to broaden the spectrum of themes reviewed.

  • Best Practices Research Report

    Best Practices Research Report

    Consistent and effective prison oversight is a crucial means to ensure the protection and promotion of prisoners’ human rights. Not only does regular monitoring, inspecting and reporting serve to prevent human rights abuses of prisoners, it also ensures transparency and increases the accountability of the government department responsible for overseeing the prisons system.

    Prison oversight should be multi-faceted, incorporating a number of functions, not all of which need to be carried out by the same body. These functions include: regulation, auditing, inspection and monitoring, investigation, reporting, legal processes for redress and restitution, and accreditation.

    A survey of oversight models within South Africa and in foreign jurisdictions reveals a number of principles of best practice that ought to be considered in the reformation of The Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS). These principles support a number of recommendations as to how the Correctional Services Act should be amended to improve JICS’ efficacy.

    This report provides an analysis of the literature on the criteria for effective prison oversight, with the objective of establishing how the ideal prison oversight model (or models) would look. It then examines the prison oversight systems in foreign jurisdictions, and evaluates their efficacy against these criteria. The jurisdictions examined include: Zambia, Malawi, Ghana, India, Canada, California, New York, England and Wales.

  • Public Transport and Safety Symposium

    Public Transport and Safety Symposium

    Marike Keller, Policy Development and Advocacy Specialist at Sonke Gender Justice, welcomed the participants and provided an overview of the necessity for a symposium bringing stakeholders from the transport and human rights sectors together.

    Public transport is an essential part of everyday life for many South Africans. According to a 2013 National Household Travel Survey, nearly 40% of workers used public transport as their main mode of travel to work – the total number of public transport trips per weekday to go to work is estimated at 5,4 million, with 68% of these being public transport trips made by taxi, 20% by bus, and 13% by train.

  • MenEngage on the spot

    MenEngage on the spot

    What does MenEngage Alliance need to do better? What does MenEngage Alliance have to do that it has not done yet? What does MenEngage Alliance need to stop doing?

    Those were some of the questions we put to women’s rights organizations from around the world as part of our Accountability Dialogue session in New York earlier this year. Download the full MenEngage On The Spot report to see what we found out, including 17 recommendations for MenEngage Alliance, our members, and anyone working in the field of men and masculinities.

  • International Women’s Day Event: “Water and Women”

    International Women’s Day Event: “Water and Women”

    On 8 March 2018, Sonke Gender Justice (Sonke) hosted a panel discussion and community dialogue to explore the relationship between gender and water in the context of Cape Town’s water crisis.

    The focus was placed on the gendered burden of care, specifically in relation to access to water, including the potential impact of “Day Zero” on women and children. The event was a collaborative effort between Sonke’s Community Education and Mobilisation (CEM) Unit and Policy Development and Advocacy (PDA) Unit, as well as various communities with which Sonke works. Consequently there was a beneficial balance between policy and legislative analysis, as well as grassroots community interaction and engagement. The event was also advertised to various media outlets and other civil society organizations. Approximately 80 people attended the event.

    The choice of date was deliberate, as 8 March is International Women’s Day. Therefore the opportunity was afforded to both celebrate the women in our country, while at the same time examine the challenges that they experience.

    This document serves as a summary report of the presentations given and discussions held during the event. It concludes with several recommendations targeted at the City of Cape Town, which may potentially alleviate some of the challenges that women face in relation to access to water.

    Read more about the event here.

  • State of South Africa’s Fathers 2018

    State of South Africa’s Fathers 2018

    There is no typical father in South Africa. There are many types of fathers and many types of fatherhood in the country. There are biological fathers, social fathers, gay fathers, straight fathers, young fathers, older fathers. We have self-identified fatherhood, ascribed fatherhood, long-distance fatherhood and proximal fatherhood, to name only a few. The texture is rich by age, race, class, geo-type, ethnicity or family type. Mothers, fathers and children experience a wide canvas of fatherhood portrayals. Such a richly textured canvas requires sensitivity that moves beyond simplistic interpretations.

    This report introduces the history of fatherhood research in South Africa, and of key moments about fatherhood in the country to date; it provides a description of the state of fathers in South Africa in the overview, and then examines fatherhood in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. The report explicitly uses an appreciative approach to document the importance of fatherhood for children, families and society by focusing on positive examples, and gives an opportunity for new voices to join the community of researchers, activists and others working on fatherhood.