Tutu Legacy takes a stand against GBVF with business closure
G20 Women's Shutdown
Unlike a traditional march, the shutdown is symbolic and economic rather than a physical protest. In South Africa, the GBVF crisis is linked directly to the nation’s unfinished reconciliation process.
Image: Pexels/Pavel Danilyuk
IN a powerful act of solidarity with women and members of the LGBTQI+ community worldwide, the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Intellectual Property Trust have announced they will close for business on Friday.
The decision aligns with the “Women’s Shutdown” initiative by Women for Change, which urges women and LGBTQI+ individuals to withhold their labour and spending for a day to demonstrate their collective economic power.
“The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu IP Trust will be closed for business on Friday in solidarity with Women for Change’s call on women and members of the LGBTQI+ community to demonstrate their economic muscle by doing no work and spending no money for the day,” the organisations declared in a joint statement on Thursday.
The move is framed as both a national and global act of advocacy. “It is an important call for advocacy from a South African perspective, where gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) statistics attest to a societal plague, and also from a global perspective, to send a clear message to powerful misogynists, including those not attending the G20 Leader’s Summit, about the real-world impacts of their bullying prejudice,” read the statement endorsed by Dr Mamphela Ramphele, Chair of the Archbishop Tutu IP Trust, and Janet Jobson, chief executive of the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation.
The statement cited alarming figures from South African Police Crime Statistics covering April 2023 to March 2024: “A staggering 5 578 women and 1 656 children were killed, with femicide rising by 33.8% compared to the previous year. More than 42 500 rape cases were reported.” The organisations emphasised: “The extent of GBV is difficult to track due to the high proportion of incidents that go unreported. Even so, the South African numbers defy belief.”
The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu is remembered not only as a moral beacon of reconciliation but also as a lifelong champion of gender equality. “The late Archbishop Tutu was a firm ally of the women’s rights movement,” the statement read. “Under his leadership, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa ordained its first women priests. The Tutu IP Trust is very fortunate to number one of those priests, who went on to become the first woman Bishop, among its trustees.”
But his commitment went beyond ecclesiastical reform. “The Archbishop’s belief in gender equality went deeper than that,” the statement noted. “He believed that male dominance of global leadership positions was a key blockage to human solidarity and a key driver of the continuing destruction of the earth’s environment.”
Citing global disparities, the organisations pointed to United Nations data showing that: “Only 19 of the world’s 195 countries have a woman head of state; only 19% of the world’s chief executives are women (according to Grant Thornton). Such profound imbalances underpin toxic masculinity.”
In South Africa, the GBV crisis is linked directly to the nation’s unfinished reconciliation process. “In South Africa, the plague of Gender Based Violence reflects the abandoned healing journey of acknowledgement-and-forgiveness-with-redress that the new democracy embarked on 31 years ago. It is part of the unfinished business of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process,” the statement read.
The organisations issued a sobering reflection on societal failure: “We are failing to raise boys to become fully emancipated men conscious of their responsibilities to the human family.”
The Foundation and Trust embraced the recent declaration of the G20 Empowerment of Women Working Group, made on October 31: “Preventing and eliminating all forms of violence against all women and girls is not just about protecting individuals but about ensuring safe, inclusive, and prosperous societies for all, in which they can fully, equally and meaningfully participate and engage in economic activities without discrimination of any kind.”
The organisations’ shutdown on Friday stands as both tribute and protest, honouring Tutu’s legacy while demanding urgent action against a crisis that continues to claim thousands of lives.