Confronting Gendered Violence in the Civil Society Sector

Fatima Vally and Christopher Rutledge 22 November 2018.

“When I first reported my case (of sexual harassment), I was told that he was too politically important to fire”.

“There seems to be an institutionalised elite in this sector (civil society) that cannot be held accountable.”

‘’The media, funders, organisations and society in general have a particular idea of what a victim looks like. Karabo Mokoena’s murder made national headlines while most South African’s have no idea that Lerato Moloi, a black lesbian woman from the townships, was gruesomely murdered just a few days after Karabo.”

These were just some of the harrowing comments and experiences shared at a public discussion hosted by ActionAid South Africa this week. The discussion was aimed at examining and confronting the hidden culture of violence, discrimination, harassment, and oppression that pervades civil society spaces and keeps women who organise and work in these spaces, in constant fear.

In a room filled with a broad spectrum of society, ranging from community activists who might not speak the language of feminism, but who are at the coal face of an unequal, patriarchal, racist and classist society, to seasoned feminists who are well versed in the rhetoric of feminism and have spent most of their lives in the  struggle towards realising women’s emancipation, from donors and men who often wield unchallenged power, to academics and queer activists, the participants wrestled with the enormous complexity of patriarchal networks and deeply entrenched cultural and societal constructs.

As can be expected when such a diverse gathering contemplates contentious issues, sharp differences emerge. The role of men, as allies to women in the feminist movements, proved to be the most contentious issue with some women maintaining an uncomfortable fury about the involvement of men in the discussion while others, including men and women felt that it was necessary to start thinking of more inclusive discourses and processes if we are to dismantle the house of Patriarchy.

Differences notwithstanding, there was broad agreement that the networks of patriarchy are deeply rooted and continue to maintain power within the sector and that the very architecture of civil society is fraught with a patriarchal bias. Civil Society, it was agreed, is unmistakably laden with deep gender race and class contradictions. NGO’s often purport to seek justice in a grossly unjust world, leveraging the face of the poor black women, yet the sector continues to maintain and concentrate power, in varied ways, in the hands of men.  To add insult to injury these perpetrators are protected and vindicated, through a myriad of old boys’ clubs and influential donor and funder networks.

The Oxfam sexual exploitation scandal in Haiti followed by sexual abuse and harassment cases at Equal Education and the Legal Resource Centre made some media headlines, but for most part, cases of harassment experienced by community and labour activists have remained hidden from public scrutiny.

Even in instances where the media has focused some of its attention on the sector, albeit it briefly, the powerful men who dominate and control access to resources, like Doron Isaacs, of Equal Education who was accused of serial abuse, are shielded from taking responsibility by powerful networks.

High profile personalities like Zackie Achmat came out publicly and defended Doron as one of the best activists he has come across, or in the case of Henk Smith, who was similarly accused of serial abuse at the LRC, was publicly defended by another high profile public interest attorney, Richard Spoor.

These prominent individuals who failed to take responsibility for their actions remain either employed through their networks or are still provided with public platforms,while their victims remain in the wilderness, their offenses against women simply overlooked and male privilege reaffirmed.

These cases show that men like Doron and Henk are supported by a range of networks that continue to not only provide them with legitimacy, but that also deliberately ensures that their power and dominance in the sector continues unchallenged, exposing women to their predation.

During the debates, which comprised of panels made up exclusively of women and where women`s voices were prioritised, there were honest reflections on the anxiety and uncertainty in navigating complex personal relationships within the sector. This web of personal complexity it was argued, inhibits any clear policy or practise of dealing with perpetrators from emerging. Thus, the question of whether we should shun perpetrators or embrace them was held up as an irreconcilable contradiction.

Our own view on this complexity is that while personal relationships are naturally part of any social endeavour, and while the feminist struggle is about undoing the model of domination and exclusion that is inherent in patriarchy, and while we are of the view that people are not static individuals who cannot grow , learn and unlearn socially constructed pathologies, the act of embracing perpetrators can only really be done if the perpetrators have taken responsibility for their actions.

As we have learnt from the painful failures of the Truth and Reconciliation process, there can be no reconciliation without justice. As things stand, none of the perpetrators who continue to enjoy privilege and access to black women’s bodies, have not taken any responsibility for their actions. 

Their continued employment and access to the sector, funded and supported by some of the most critical organisations in the sector, stands as a bloody stain on the fabric of the good work of the sector and this insult to the victims of gendered violence cannot continue to go unchallenged.

Another area of sharp divergence which emerged during the debates and which was graphically captured in the closing exchanges of the day, is the question of what a feminist movement is, what it should be and what role men can play in such movements.

In setting up the debate, ActionAid spent three days prior to the public event, unpacking the questions of patriarchy with communities across Africa that are marginalised and affected by mining. Men and women, most of whom are from communities where patriarchy is practised and celebrated, were engaged separately, and taken through an intensive personal exploration of their own attitudes, understanding and complicity in Patriarchy and Gender Based Violence.

In our opinion, the personal work which must inform our political work must appreciate that the personal consciousness of both men and women are shaped by the structural pillars of domination and exclusion. Our opinion is further informed by the understanding that Patriarchy is not a biological truth, it is as bell hooks and other feminists argue, an ideological system, which holds that men are dominant and superior to women, that can be believed and acted upon by either men or women.

Indeed, the rise of fascism and ultra-right politics which are premised on Patriarchy and which is gaining momentum across the world, is actively been supported by women and men across the world, and South Africa is no exception.

If our analysis were to remain rooted in biological binaries which seeks to replace women for men, while using the same tools of Patriarchy, such as aggressive silencing and exclusions, then again as a sector we are culpable of reproducing the repertoires of subjugation and oppression which is inherent to patriarchal systems.

While the feminist movement has made great strides in working towards building a critical mass within society that can shift social constructs that underpin patriarchy and GBV, the #TotalShutDown Movement being an inspiring example, the brutal reality of township and community life, has unfortunately not shifted in the ways that is necessary to overcome the brutality of Patriarchy.

The deeply held patriarchal views which continue to spur on the violence against women, remains a compartmentalised challenge which is continually separated out from the political practises of social movements in ways that hinders the broader project of total emancipation.

Unless we are able to bring feminist leadership and feminist practises into the praxis of social movements, the challenge to obtain the critical mass which can shift society will remain elusive.

Fatima Vally and Christopher Rutledge are part of the Natural Resources Unit at ActionAid South Africa and write in their personal capacities.