Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa — At the behest of a female instructor, a line of girls and women, wearing pink ear defenders, fired five rounds from 9mm pistols at a target while undergoing firearms training at a range in Bronkhorstspruit, a farming town outside the South African capital of Pretoria.
The group, some as young as 13 and others as young as 65, are looking for ways to protect themselves in a country where gender-based violence is such a critical problem that the government declared it a national disaster in November.
“Check your grip, check your line of sight,” says Claire van der Westhuizen, lead female instructor at Lone Operator Shooting Range, as women with well-manicured nails reload for another round.
The training course is designed specifically for women and provides practice in real-world scenarios such as self-defense shooting while lying on their stomachs and backs.
According to UN Women, the United Nations agency for gender equality, South Africa has one of the highest femicide rates in the world. A 2022 South African study found that more than 35% of South African women aged 18 and over had experienced physical or sexual violence at some point. In most cases, the perpetrator was an intimate partner.
Sunette du Toit, a 51-year-old working grandmother, was pushed to get gun training after surviving a home invasion by five men who tied her up and ransacked her home, she told The Associated Press.
“I was not in a position to defend myself at the time,” Du Toit said. “I needed to do this (gun training) to regain my confidence to move around in public and even in my own home without feeling vulnerable.”
She called the women’s firearms training group a “family of support.”
Firearms are highly regulated in South Africa. Anyone who wants to own a gun for self-defense must be over 21 and pass proficiency tests and background checks.
Various self-defense trainings for women are emerging across the country.
In South Africa’s biggest city, Johannesburg, 33-year-old Tatiana Leka, well aware of South Africa’s reputation, took up the martial art of Jiujitsu for self-defense.
“I think that’s the No. 1 priority,” she said at the end of the Saturday morning class, which included escaping chokeholds, avoiding being pinned against walls and other moves that help women flee from male attacks. “With the increase in the numbers of gender-based violence, it’s important to be able to protect yourself, even if it’s escapable.”
According to UN Women, South Africa’s femicide rates are five to six times higher than the global average.
Statistics show that about 15 women are killed every day in South Africa due to gender-based violence, said Mpiwa Mangwiro-Tsanga, policy development and advocacy manager at Sonke Gender Justice, a women’s rights organization. One in three women have been sexually harassed or sexually harassed.
“That’s how bad it is,” she said. “We are competing with conflict countries.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s move to declare violence against women and girls a national disaster comes after years of pressure from women’s advocacy groups. He cites socio-economic inequality, strong patriarchal attitudes and under-resourced police forces as factors.
“It is shameful that our country has the dubious distinction of having the highest levels of violence against women and girls in the world,” Ramaphosa said in a statement announcing the “national action”.
The declaration means authorities can direct money towards the problem, but activists have not addressed the issues, witnessing decades of high rates of gender-based violence and a disconnect between policy and implementation of a national strategic plan announced six years ago.
Mangwiro-Tsanga said the lack of women’s shelters and other places of safety shows that South Africa’s policies are progressive on paper but poorly implemented.
“The reality here in South Africa is that a person who rapes a woman is arrested, goes to jail. The state spends more on the rapist than it spends on the rape survivor,” he said.
South Africa has a very low conviction rate for rape, with only 8% of those reported convicted in 2021. According to Amnesty International, many cases are dropped by the criminal justice system, but most are never prosecuted.
Despite officials’ promises of renewed action, South African women are taking their own steps, which may mean keeping their training a secret from partners and husbands.
Jiujitsu gym manager Michael Palin said not all female partners know he attends training. Some say they are going to the shopping center in front of the gym.
Marguerite Herschenson, a 49-year-old beauty therapist, attends gun classes with her 21-year-old daughter Nika. Hershenson said her daughter is learning to defend herself with a gun and not always rely on the police.
“Yes, we should respect those officers,” he said. “But they’re not always around.”
Women who attend the training “don’t look like GI Jane,” Hershenson said. “We look like normal women.”
But Mangwiro-Tsanga warns that the tendency for women to resort to guns or martial arts when society fails to protect them can be problematic. Instead of dealing with the perpetrators, “it burdens women and girls who are already burdened,” she said.
Stephanie Graham, a jiujitsu class instructor, says while many women gain confidence in her program, there’s no guarantee they’ll always be able to defend themselves.
“We think it gives us more confidence and heightened awareness so that we can perceive a threat a little earlier than the average person,” Graham said.
___
For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse
The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all matters. Find AP’s criteria for working with philanthropists, a list of supporters and funding coverage areas at AP.org.
(Tags to Translate)General News(T)Violence(T)Gender(T)Health(T)Lifestyle(T)World News(T)Article(T)130848641
