WCC NEWS: In South Africa, Father’s Day campaign starts 100 days of “Men of Faith Against Gender-Based Violence”

An art installation on sexual abuse in South Africa.
Photo: Hymie Sokupha/WCC, 2019.

A campaign that began in South Africa on 21 June—Father’s Day—is being supported by more men every day who are speaking out against gender-based violence.

The “Men of Faith Against Gender-Based Violence” campaign, organized by Sonke Gender Justice, together with faith organisations that include the South African Council of Churches, encourages men to examine their roles as fathers, brothers, husbands, and partners.

In the statement announcing the campaign, it noted that more than 60% of South Africa’s children do not have a father present in their lives. One in three women will be sexually attacked. Two in five women are beaten by their partners; and half will be sexually harassed at work. One in 15 is murdered by her partner.

The campaign includes a set of “Ten Things a Man of Faith Can Do Now to End Gender-Based Violence.”

WCC deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri found the release of the campaign on Father’s Day to be especially meaningful. “The spotlight is on all men,” she said. “As we celebrate them, it is powerful for some of the men to speak to other men to say, it is not acceptable to use your position as a man to bring pain in women and girls.”

Phiri reflected that these statements resonate with the Thursdays in Black campaign for a world free from rape and violence. “I was particularly reminded of the time the WCC used Valentine’s Day, when the world is celebrating love, to raise the issue of gender-based violence,” Phiri said. “We need to continue using global special days to raise awareness and spark new actions.”

Rev. Bafana Khumalo, co-founder of Sonke Gender Justice, is pleased with the positive participation and media attention the campaign has received.

"I'm happy that we also had a lot of traction by faith leaders, both ordained and lay, who have signed up to be part of the campaign,” said Khumalo. “We reached out to some of the key church leaders who all supported the idea immediately when we approached them.”

Khumalo is urging the faith sector to focus on internal challenges related to sexual harassment and the undermining of women. “There has been and continues to be reported cases of violence against women meted out by leading male faith leaders to women in these institutions,” said Khumalo. “We are of the view that the faith sector needs to also develop accountability mechanisms that ensure that, where there are cases of violations, cases must be dealt with.”

The campaign includes training of leaders on gender equality and development of sermon outlines and liturgies that focus on meaningful response to gender-based violence.

“Leaders are called upon not to look the other way,” said Khumalo. “Faith communities are called upon to provide psychosocial support to survivors of gender-based violence and to create safe spaces in places of worship to ensure that survivors feel at home."

Learn more about Thursdays in Black

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania.

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