South Africa has declared gender-based violence and femicide a national crisis, ahead of last Friday's nationwide shutdown led by non-profit organisation 'Women for Change'. The organisation dedicated to combating Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) urged women  to stay home, halt spending, wear black, and hold silent protests for the 15 women killed daily. Activists say symbolic gestures aren't enough and demand deeper institutional reforms.Ms Baleseng Maeneche is lecturer and researcher in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of the Western Cape whose work focuses on  institutional and systemic perpetrations of gender-based violence, says as a society, South Africa needs to focus on the everyday societal elements that allow for womxn and children's voices to continue to go unnoticed and for violence to persist.....

<p>South Africa has declared gender-based violence and femicide a national crisis, ahead of last Friday's nationwide shutdown led by non-profit organisation 'Women for Change'. The organisation dedicated to combating Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) urged women &nbsp;to stay home, halt spending, wear black, and hold silent protests for the 15 women killed daily. Activists say symbolic gestures aren't enough and demand deeper institutional reforms.Ms Baleseng Maeneche is lecturer and researcher in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of the Western Cape whose work focuses on &nbsp;institutional and systemic perpetrations of gender-based violence, says as a society, South Africa needs to focus on the everyday societal elements that allow for womxn and children's voices to continue to go unnoticed and for violence to persist.....</p>