Community and nonprofit leaders held a discussion about gender-based violence as part of UNFPA East and Southern Africa’s regional launch of the flagship State of World Population 2020 report. Included in the crucial issues were men being involved in dialogues about violence against women and girls and willing to hold one another accountable; the importance of encouraging respect for women and girls and of changing social norms; and the use of political power, privilege, and joining forces to help end violence against women and girls. Click through to read the entire article.
“It is not true that men do not know who among their circle of friends is a rapist. Men sometimes sit in bars and discuss how they can have sex with a girl without her consent by way of altering her judgment using, for instance, alcohol and drugs,” said Bafana Khumalo, Sonke Gender Justice Co-Executive Director.
He was speaking during a virtual dialogue on gender-based violence (GBV), organized by UNFPA East and Southern Africa. This took the theme of the State of World Population 2020 report, Against My Will.
The report details the global scale of harmful practices such as child marriage, female genital mutilation, and son preference. All of these are forms of gender-based violence, which prevent women and girls from exercising their human rights and reaching their full potential.
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Image by UNFPA
