Ramaphosa: Societies cannot be rooted in equality unless they uphold the rights of women and girls

BOKSBURG - The G20 Social Summit has called for the health and well-being of women and children to be prioritised and for greater representation of women in all facets of society.

Delivering closing remarks at the summit on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said societies could not be rooted in equality unless they uphold the rights of women and girls.

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His remarks come as women are expected to protest in Pretoria and Johannesburg on Friday to highlight the scourge of gender-based violence (GBV) in the country ahead of the G20 Leaders’ Summit on the weekend.

"Here in South Africa, we do have a challenge of gender-based violence and the women of our country are crying out that they need much more focus on the issue of gender-based violence, they need protection and they need support and assistance, largely from their government, and largely from the men of South Africa."

Addressing civil society groups who have been attending the social summit, Ramaphosa explained South Africa’s response when gender-based violence was declared a national crisis in 2018.

It led to the adoption of a national strategic plan to combat GBV in 2020 and the amendment of legislation for stricter measures against perpetrators.

"We, in recognising the plight of our women, we are now going to declare gender-based violence and femicide as a crisis, a crisis that needs to be addressed. We have agreed, among all social partners, that we need to take extraordinary and concerted action, using every means at our disposal, to end the crisis."