What does Victory for Equality do?

Victory for Equality envisages a world in which every human being, regardless of their race, class, gender, religion and ethnical background can join and collaborate together based upon equal beliefs, rights and freedom. We strive to unite women and men, by not only empowering women, but by empowering women and men together.

The mission of Victory for Equality is to create awareness about Gender Inequality and the possibilities for Gender Reconciliation. Both among people in local communities strongly affected by gender injustice, as well as people around the globe, to raise more consciousness about this issue.

Victory for Equality’s current work focuses on carrying out Gender Reconciliation programs in South Africa and Europe.  In South Africa we are active in Johannesburg and Cape Town. A dozen of Gender Reconciliation programs have been carried out over the last years in South Africa. Victory for Equality is now specifically focusing on the areas where the rate of violence is the highest and the population is the most neglected by the government.

In the meantime we are focusing on strengthening our ties in Europe where we are setting up and want to implement more Gender Reconciliation Programs. We recently set up a Gender Reconciliation Program in London for instance.

Gender Reconciliation Programs in Europe

Not only in Africa, but worldwide, also in Europe,  the gender gap is still visible (and invisible) in every country. Our first Gender programs have just been implemented in Europe. In the labor market, in education and on a political level, there are still less women in top positions and women still earn less than men.

Invisible is the huge amount of domestic violence, emotional and physical abuse inflicted between both genders. (as well men towards women as women towards men).

Mainstream masculinities across the world promote physical and emotional toughness in men, which can make it extremely difficult for men to live fulfilled, happy lives. They can also cause men to experience severe internal and external conflicts. The imperative is therefore to transform underlying gender injustice and unequal power dynamics so as to establish healthy, harmonious relations between the sexes.

Gender Reconciliation Programs in South Africa

South Africa’s 350-year history of slavery, imperialism, colonialism, and apartheid has fueled social inequality, and specifically racial and gender inequalities. The prevalence of rape in the country, as a particular type of sexual and gender-based violence, is one of the highest in the world. A rape reportedly occurs every 35 seconds. The trafficking of women and children is also on the rise in Southern Africa.  The right to own property for women is still neglected on a large scale. Besides all this, there has been a pandemic of ‘corrective rape’ violations against lesbian women.

Men in South Africa also suffer the negative impacts of patriarchy and the associated trauma of gender injustice and imbalance. Although most violence against women is perpetrated by men, the majority of male violence is committed against other men. Therefore we also focus on men- to men reconciliation and women to women. Groups that are mostly affected by traditional and sometimes harmful gender- belief systems over generations.