Mr Speaker, the issue of violence against women and children is not an exclusively South African problem but a worldwide issue. Violence against women and children happens in all cultures, all religions and all ethnic and racial communities, at every age and in every income group.
In Canada, for instance, with the relatively low crime statistics that the country has, the Canadian Women's Foundation reports that every six days a woman is killed in Canada by her intimate partner. Each year more than 400 000 women are sexually assaulted. In Brazil it is said that a woman is assaulted every 50 seconds. Here at home a woman is killed every six hours by her intimate partner. I do not even want to touch on the atrocities against women taking place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other war-torn areas.
If, therefore, violence against women and children is a global issue, could it be that the global system of governance is rendering women and children vulnerable to violence? How is it that the global community is continuing to fail to address this issue?
We in the UCDP have always maintained that the perpetrators of these crimes are our husbands, our sons, our grandsons, our brothers, and our neighbours. Women have given birth to the perpetrators. Tomorrow's perpetrator of violence against a woman is probably an innocent-looking child sitting in front of a television set right now. So, where have we lost our grasp as a global community? How is it that we continue to breed violators of women and children?
Physical and sexual violence are directly linked to the other systematic violations against women. There is no reason why there should not be equal pay for men and women doing the same job in 2013. When we continue to have such subtle but profound violations, we are also perpetuating the more aggressive forms of violence against women. We perpetuate the idea that men are superior to women and can do as they please.
If we are ever going to address grass-roots communities on violence against women and children, we need to target structural violations. We must have effective legislative reforms and the effective implementation thereof.
We need public education reforms, and by that I do not mean a once-a-year event designed in nature to be a celebratory get together. We need effective, consistent support for shelters and crisis centres. We need empowered civil society movements to influence policy direction. We must embrace emerging feminist movements and discard the notion that feminists are men-haters.
Women are obviously being endangered. Our wellbeing and sanity are being endangered. Our lives are being endangered. We are a globally oppressed group and ought always to remember that freedom is never granted by the oppressor. It is taken by the oppressed. I thank you. [Applause.]