Understanding and responding to gender-based violence in a time of COVID-19 and beyond: New strategies for new times

The College of Humanities will host a public webinar series on the topic of "Understanding and responding to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in a time of COVID-19 and beyond: New Strategies for New Times" on Wednesday, 22 July from 4pm to 6pm.

The webinar features Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng (Commissioner, Commission for Gender Equality), Lisa Vetten (University of the Witwatersrand), Student and Gender Activist Ali Shongwe (UKZN), Dr Angeline Stephens (UKZN) with respondent Janine Hicks (UKZN), and will be chaired by Professor Relebohile Moletsane (UKZN).

"The webinar will look at how the COVID-19 lockdown climate – closing of workplaces, curfew, and regulations – has impacted on GBV in families and communities; and the strengthening of networking, communication and support mechanisms so that GBV does not get silenced and marginalised in the rush to resume economic and educational activities," said Moletsane.

It will also tackle how authorities (government and institutions such as UKZN) should be responding to intensifying action against GBV and new GBV challenges while further assessing individual responsibilities – as students, staff, academics and management in the fight against GBV.

According to Mofokeng: "It is important to ensure that those who are on the periphery of society based on certain vulnerabilities, such as extremes of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, poverty, migration and various abilities [are taken into account] and thus all solutions must be informed by a literal consideration and inclusivity of such individuals." She further identifies that institutions of higher learning are important spaces where many young people are transitioning from childhood into adulthood and some of the conditions that keep them from thriving are violence, drug use and abuse, homophobia, anti-blackness, misogyny and academic exclusion due to a lack of financial support.

Mofokeng highlights that the Gender Commission will continue to play a catalyst function in order to ensure that access to justice for GBV victims and survivors is realised without hindrance during the national lockdown. When access to justice is hindered in domestic violence courts, the Gender Commission may act on behalf of a complainant. This will only happen in instances where the complainant is unable to get assistance from the courts because domestic violence courts are designed to assist complainants without the assistance of a legal representative.

Stephens adds: "The current COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown restrictions have brought about the re-emergence of a long-standing debate around violence that relates to the interplay between the personal-public (institutional) domains." Framed within a feminist social psychological perspective, she will consider how this dynamic shapes the nature of violence under the current context at home and at university as students and staff begin to return to campuses. Stephens will offer some suggestions on how we might strengthen current responses in a way that promotes collective responsibility through bridging the personal-public-institutional divides in how we respond to the challenge of violence and GBV in the current COVID-19 context.

As an intersectional feminist, Shongwe will question what effective national ‘crisis response’ amounts to; the institutions mobilised; the resources allocated; the policy and legislation (and enforcement) committed; and the urgency of prevention and solution finding. "The year apart between the official declaration of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) as a national crisis, compared to the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic as a national disaster reveals a bipolar understanding of what ‘crisis response’ means to the South African government, or, more worryingly, the understanding that not #AllCrisesMatter," argues Shongwe.

She notes that "similar to the anti-racism required to transform a racist society, feminist (anti-patriarchal) and communitarian values can sufficiently deliver on the expectations of our constitutional democracy, where the shadow pandemic of GBVF inhibits the improvement of our quality of life".

According to Vetten: "COVID-19 and the extraordinary conditions created by the lockdown challenge the ways we conventionally think about gender and violence." To illustrate this, her presentation briefly sketches the little that is known about the incidence of violence under the lockdown, as well as the helping response that has been put in place. It links these silences and omissions to some of the other new realities precipitated by the lockdown and seeks to provoke critical questions around how we conceptualise violence, who it is assumed to affect, and what we regard as appropriate interventions.

Click here for more details.

For more information, please contact

Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, Commissioner, CGE
Email: [email protected] OR [email protected]

Lisa Vetten, Gender Activist
Email: [email protected]

Ali Shongwe, Student Activist, UKZN
Email: [email protected]

Angelina Stephens, Student Support Services, UKZN
Email: [email protected]

Janine Hicks, Lecturer, UKZN School of Law.
Email: [email protected]

Relebohile Moletsane
Email: [email protected].