SMITA NARSI: Employers are duty-bound to help turn tide on gender-based violence

Gender-based violence (GBV) has reached a level in SA where businesses cannot afford to take a back seat in national efforts to curb the scourge. Employers in particular have a moral duty to lend not only words, but also resources and action to the cause. Businesses are just as affected as other stakeholders by  rising incidents of domestic violence, rape, femicide and other heinous crimes against women.

Many women end up leaving their jobs, taking long bouts of leave and being rendered unable to be economically active because of the mental and physical effects of GBV. Reported incidences of violence and sexual assaults are also frequently found to have occurred in the workplace or in the line of duty.

This creates numerous intersections between the experiences of women as workers, as members of families and as a part of their communities. It therefore follows that companies are in a unique position to turn awareness into action by implementing strategies that challenge every member of an organisation to take part in fighting and preventing GBV, wherever it may occur.

Despite a plethora of government-initiated white papers, commissions, marches, slogans, task forces, special courts and legislative changes, tens of thousands of South Africans still fall victim to GBV every year, mainly at the hands of people they know. The problem became even more glaring during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the SA Police Service reporting it had received 87,000 GBV complaints in the first few weeks of the hard lockdown.

In 2021, official crime statistics showed that 902 women were killed in SA in just three months. In the same period, 252 murders were as a result of domestic violence, and between October and December 2021, 11,315 women were raped. In the first quarter of 2022, incidences of rape reported to the police increased by 36,4% from 2018. This indicates a rate of 120 women raped per day, and at least five women raped every hour.

These figures tell me the government’s strategy of combating GBV is not working. Fighting GBV is too big a task to be solved by the national authorities and civil society alone. It requires the input and involvement of all stakeholders, including the private sector. Just because most GBV instances happen outside our offices and workspaces doesn’t mean we can exclude ourselves from the debate.

We as employers must come to terms with an uncomfortable truth: not only do survivors of GBV walk among us as employees and colleagues, so do assailants. It starts by providing safe spaces for the survivors among our staff to come forward, speak out and open up about their experiences. We need to become the allies we purport to be in big media campaigns in our daily work lives, so that the people behind our brands get the help they need.

Often victims of GBV are failed by the justice system are shamed even further, labelled as liars. This indicates that the enormous effort to perpetuate fact-based ideas around GBV have not been successful in all spheres of society. Part of the task of businesses taking a more hands-on approach to GBV should include educating men, allowing them to discuss their concerns and making them part of the solution.

For example, non-profit company Father a Nation provides training courses to male employees, raising their awareness about how their behaviour can either harm or enrich the women and girls in their communities. Bettabets has invested in this programme as a first step to help combat GBV in the communities in which we operate. We call on other companies to do the same, creating a better understanding of the role of men in society as champions of development, safety and unity in communities.

We need to also ensure survivors of GBV receive the time and space to access services to rebuild their lives mentally, practically, medically and legally — without affecting their pay or annual work reviews. Research shows many women don’t seek help because it costs time and they are afraid they will lose their jobs. Support should be available and easily accessible, for example employees who are dealing with domestic violence or GBV could receive anonymous and free legal support.

In the meantime, while helping survivors employers also have to find ways to address the root cause of GBV. Providing abused staff members with special leave and safe spaces to speak out is an excellent start, but it doesn’t make the problem disappear. We won’t eradicate GBV by only urging survivors to come forward.

Processes need to be put in place that allow everyone within the company to report perpetrators of undesirable behaviour. This should also extend beyond violence to catcalling, harassment, degrading comments, sexual intimidation and sexism in general.

GBV begins with how some men view women, how they speak about and to them, and how they treat them. If we want to tackle the problem of GBV from both sides and as early as possible, it is essential that businesses get on the bus, and quickly.

Like domestic violence, male mental health remains a big taboo too — one that can kill. We as businesses have the resources to turn this tide.

• Narsi is head of corporate social investment at Bettabets.