Women for Change wants to send govt strong message about impact of ignoring GBV during national shutdown

Advocacy group Women for Change said it wants to send a strong message to government about the impact of ignoring gender-based violence (GBV) when the organisation stages a national shutdown this week.

The shutdown is expected to take place on the eve of the G20 Leaders' Summit on Friday.

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This is part of efforts to shine the spotlight on the country’s growing GBV crisis.

Previous attempts by the group to have GBV declared a national crisis failed, despite almost 1 million signatures supporting the call.

Spokesperson of Women for Change told RISE Mzansi this past weekend that the G20 summit is the best shot at getting global attention for the cause.

"This economic disruption, at this time where we're trying to show our best foot, feels like such a beautiful moment to highlight this issue and it is it is it's tough because shutdowns can also be perceived as well as, ‘no, now you're just wasting time’ and ‘why are you doing this to the country’ and ‘this isn't gonna have an impact’. You can never equate the cost of an economy to the cost of lives. It's just not even in the same conversation."

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