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TimesLiveTimesLive09/11/2025
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‘We bury a woman every 2.5 hours’: Women for Change calls for national shutdown ahead of G20

‘We bury a woman every 2.5 hours’: Women for Change calls for national shutdown ahead of G20

Executive Summary

South Africans are changing their social media profile pictures to purple in support of a nationwide shutdown against gender-based violence and femicide, organized by Women for Change ahead of a November 21 march. The protest urges women and LGBTQI+ individuals to withdraw from all paid and unpaid labor, join a 15-minute national standstill at noon by lying down to honor the 15 women killed daily, wear black, and boycott spending, with men invited as allies. Coinciding with South Africa's hosting of the G20 Leaders' Summit, the action demands that gender-based violence and femicide be declared a national disaster now, highlighting their obstruction to economic growth and progress.