Young Girls Lead Awareness March in Rural KZN

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Taking a stand against gender-based violence, a group of girls and young women from Nthathakusa High School in the rural community of Khethani in Winterton, led a march to raise awareness about violence against women in their community in support of Women’s Month.

The group – known as Leaders for Young Women’s Success (L4YWS) – was created to form a part of a project by UKZN and McGill University in Canada to encourage girls and young women to be both “knowers and actors” in contributing to policy dialogue related to sexual violence. The group was recruited into the project in 2015 as both participants and co-researchers.

The project is titled, Networks for Change and Well-being: Girl-led ‘from the ground up’ policy making to address sexual violence in Canada and South Africa. 

Around 150 people, mostly girls and young women but including mothers and grandmothers, a representative from the local Mayor’s office, UKZN project staff members and some senior South African Police officers, participated in the march.

Afterwards, they gathered at a community hall to engage in dialogue and seek collective solutions to the issue of gender-based violence.

The march was organised with the support of the Okhahlamba Local Municipality.

Networks for Change and Well-Being is a six-year research project (2014 – 2020) aimed at understanding sexual violence against girls and young women from the perspectives of girls themselves and on developing interventions to address sexual violence in this community.

The work uses participatory visual methods, including cellphilms (short films made with a cellphone) and other video productions, photography, and digital story telling in order to reach and engage audiences.

Principal Investigator Professor Relebohile Moletsane of UKZN says sexual violence is a key issue affecting girls and young women in schools, families and communities.

‘Our research findings indicate that sexual violence is rife in rural communities. We are also seeing another kind of violence emerging, which involves girls being forced into early marriages and some being abducted.’

Moletsane says it is crucial that the voices of girls and young women are heard and that they are recognised and supported as leaders in their communities. 

Words by Sejal Desai