The Policing Of Sex Work In South Africa
Within a context where gender-based violence (GBV) is endemic, sex workers in South Africa experience particular vulnerabilities to systematic violence, abuse, extortion, rape, and even torture. The criminalisation of sex work in South Africa enables an environment where sex workers are subject to numerous human rights violations, including discrimination, harassment, and abuse at the hands […]
Research Brief: The Policing Of Sex Work In South Africa
Marginalised and stigmatised groups in society such as migrants, sex workers, homeless people and drug-users are at particular risk of human rights violations during policing and security operations. Sonke Gender Justice and SWEAT (Sex Worker Education & Advocacy Taskforce) commissioned research into police practices following high volumes of sex worker complaints.
Rights, Action and Accountability
Founded in 2006 in South Africa, Sonke Gender Justice has been advancing gender justice for more than ten years. This timeline, charts the highlights of our work over the last decade.
A Report on Training Programmes Provided by Sonke Gender Justice and Partners
This evaluation focuses on three core training and education courses provided by Sonke Gender Justice (hereafter Sonke) together with its partners: Women’s Health and Empowerment – MenEngage Africa Training Initiative (MATI) The University of Pretoria / Sonke Advanced Human Rights Course (UP) University of California Los Angeles School of Law and Sonke Fellowship Programme (UCLA) […]
Increasing male engagement in the HIV response
It is now well understood that gender norms, as they affect both women and men, underpin the HIV epidemic and need to be addressed urgently. Women are much more vulnerable to HIV infection; men are much less likely to get tested for HIV, less likely to access and adhere to treatment, and are thus disproportionately […]
Addressing the health needs of men and boys
This document provides an overview of national policies with respect to men’s health in order to support national level discussions of how to improve health services. This document can be used as part of a literature review or policy or guideline development process. Please note that the findings have been presented in summary form and […]
Addressing Gender, Mobility and HIV/AIDS
This report describes Sonke Gender Justice Project’s (“Sonke”) recommendations for addressing the nexus of gender, mobility and HIV/AIDS issues within the second phase of the Partnership on HIV and Mobility in Southern Africa (“PHAMSA II”).
Sex Worker & Policing – Human Rights Challenges
This draft report produces a body of research recording the contemporary policing experiences of sex workers from a grass roots level. The final report will be available in October 2017.
CHANGE Evidence Brief
Violence against women is a leading cause of illness and death and occurs in the lives of one third of women globally. Prevalence of violence against women in South Africa is alarmingly high, with 32% of men reporting violence towards partners, and 28% having ever raped. We know that certain beliefs about manhood contribute to […]
Policy Support for Engaging Men in Positive Parenting in Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe
Positive parenting can change circumstances dramatically for children, especially when mothers and fathers are fully engaged. In this report we define positive parenting as a non violent and proactive approach to parenting that promotes gender equality between parents. However, positive parenting programmes and policies in Eastern and Southern Africa are mostly undeveloped or inadequate. Although […]
Talking Man-to-Man
Brothers for Life (B4L) is a multi-faceted campaign targeting men over the age of 30 years and younger men to impact on speci c areas of knowledge and practices in HIV prevention. With the largest community mobilisation component of any initiative yet undertaken by the USAID/JHU HIV Communication Programme in South Africa, Brothers for Life […]
Womenability Khayelitsha
On Saturday 17 September 2016, Sonke together with Womenability, a Paris-based collective dedicated to the promotion of gender equality in cities around the world, and Social Justice Coalition conducted an exploratory walk in Khayelitsha to raise awareness around issues of gender-based violence as well as the lack of sanitation and other basic services. Together with forty residents of […]
Public transport and the safety of women in South Africa
The development of transport infrastructure and services typically do not to take gender roles and needs into account and the lack of transport infrastructure that does not take women’s needs into consideration around safety, creates negative impacts on women’s income and safety. Women are at greater risk of violence, sexual harassment, and sexual assault on […]
Progress towards prohibiting all corporal punishment of children in East and Southern Africa
This briefing highlights the human rights imperative to prohibit all violent punishment of children in all East and Southern African states. It summarises progress so far towards prohibition in each state and what remains to be done. Aiming to promote national action for prohibition, it emphasises the many immediate opportunities for working to fulfil children’s […]
Lack of gender transformation in the judiciary
The slow pace of gender transformation of the judiciary cannot be evaluated in isolation. The discussion must be placed within the larger South African context in which transformation (in its broadest sense) remains a difficult and contested issue. Considering the causes of the slow pace of gender transformation of the bench and reflecting on possible […]
Findings from The Sonke CHANGE Trial
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a leading cause of illness and death among one-third of women globally. Prevalence of VAWG is alarmingly high. Large studies among South African men found that 32% used violence towards partners, and 28% of men have ever raped. We know that some beliefs about manhood contribute to men’s […]
Baseline Assessment Results for Changing the River’s Flow for Young People
SAfAIDS in partnership with Sonke Gender Justice will be implementing a 2 year gender-transformative program that seeks to transform gender roles and promote more gender-equitable relationships between young men and young women to reduce HIV, GBV and promote positive SRHR entitled “Changing the River’s Flow – A gender Transformative Program for Young People (CTRF 4 […]
MenCare+ South Africa Outcome Measurement Report
This Outcome Measurement Report has been compiled by the Foundation for Professional Development’s Programme Evaluation Unit in response to a request by Sonke Gender Justice and Mosaic Training, Service & Healing Centre for Women (MOSAIC) to conduct the End Term Evaluation of the MenCare+ South Africa Programme. The purpose of this evaluation was to determine […]
Policy Scans on HIV and SRH
Results of Sonke Policy Scans find that very few NSPs engage with men. Most NSPs do acknowledge the importance of gender within HIV work, but very few expand this to include work with men. NSPs are more likely to mention men in relation to PMTCT and Medical Male Circumcision, but men are hardly ever mentioned […]
SANAC Men’s Sector National Strategic Plan Implementation Audit Report
As the convenor of the Men’s Sector, in September 2011 Sonke hosted a summit to prepare the Men’s Sector’s submission for the development of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) 2012-2016. As a result, the final NSP 2012/2016 document includes men’s involvement in HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment as a key priority area. The overall […]
Sexuality, Poverty and Law
Religious doctrine shapes and informs decision-making at the individual and collective levels, and sexuality and gender rights advocates must therefore work with faith-based organisations and religious activists to challenge harmful and discriminatory sexuality and gender norms and practices. The Religion, Gender and Sexuality workshop provided a space for faith leaders and those engaging with faith […]
Gender Transformation of the Judiciary Project 2013–2014
The Democratic Rights and Governance Unit (DRGU) of the University of Cape Town, together with Sonke Gender Justice (Sonke) hosted a series of legal sector meetings on gender transformation of the judiciary between 2013 and 2014. Four meetings were hosted in the Western Cape (25 February 2013), Gauteng (9 November 2013), the Eastern Cape (29 […]
Situation des pères en Afrique
Comme pour toute jeune fille, mon père a eu une grande influence dans ma vie. Avec ma mère, il m’a inculqué le sens de la responsabilité sociale, de la justice sociale et m’a donné la ferme conviction que chaque personne a de la valeur. Comme lui, je suis devenue enseignante et, à partir de là, […]
Faith and Sexual Pleasure
This report is based on a ground breaking workshop conceptualized by Sonke Gender Justice in partnership with the South African Council of Churches Youth Forum that brought together Muslim Scholars, Christian Youth Pastors, practitioners of African Traditional Religion and traditional healers from across the country to speak about their own sexual pleasure with a view […]
