Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, will on Thursday launch Women’s Month in a live briefing in Pretoria.
Nkoana-Mashabane is expected to announce the theme for Women’s Month, which is observed in South Africa annually in August.
She is also expected to reveal the Call To Action campaign to encourage society in its response to gender equality.
Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities @DWYPD_ZA Maite Nkoana-Mashabane will on Thursday officially launch Women’s Month 2020 https://t.co/BFlFbS68kS #WomensMonth pic.twitter.com/cax5MvDuVa
— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) July 29, 2020
This year, Women’s Month comes as the world faces a COVID-19 pandemic and a high rise of gender-based violence and femicide cases during the lockdown period in South Africa.
Earlier this year, citizens across South Africa held protests against gender-based violence following a spike of reported murder cases of women, occurring mostly at the hands of their male partners.
A large number of domestic violence and femicide cases are left unreported.
If you are a victim of gender-based violence or know someone who is, please contact the GBV Command Centre on 0800 428 428
Calls to the #GBV command centre have increased during lockdown, this means that more women are being helped. If you or someone you know needs help, contact the Gender-based Violence Command Centre on 0800428428 or *120*7867# #StopGBV @The_DSD @DWYPD_ZA pic.twitter.com/83fKeiWJMh
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) July 7, 2020
GBV cases on the increase during Level 3 lockdown