November 25-December 10 marks the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign. This year, from my experience, women have rejected and disapproved of this period more than most years. Because for women, it has not resulted in tangible change. For women, conditions are still the same, if they aren’t worse off. One cannot blame women for feeling this way because the objective indicators such as abuse, rape and femicide statistics correspond with their feeling. I think women are exhausted, and rightfully so.

On the eve of the launch of 16 Days of Activism, the ANC in Mpumalanga reinstated an ANC official who has been charged with the rape of his eight-year-old twin daughters, after being released on bail. This occurred in the same period our country entered a period of mourning and the SA flag was hung at half-mast in remembrance of those who died as a result of gender-based violence and the coronavirus. If this is anything to go by, women are indeed supposed to be fed up...