Protect GBV helpers too

FRONT LINE: SOCIAL WORKERS WALK INTO DANGER - OFTEN ALONE

- LUCÉ PRETORIUS

South Africa's declaration of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) as a national disaster marks a turning point. This signals national recognition of the scale of harm women face daily and brings hope that long-delayed action may finally gain momentum.

But there is a missing part of this story: the people the country relies on to respond to GBVF are themselves at risk.

Social workers, community workers and GBVF practitioners stand between survivors and further harm, yet they face violence that often mirrors the very crises they intervene in.

If we are serious about tackling GBVF, we need to include the front line in the conversation.

Three issues require immediate attention.

GBVF is gendered - and so is the profession expected to respond to it.

According to research, the majority of social workers in South Africa are women. They enter homes, conflict zones and crisis situations as the face of the helping profession.

That visibility brings trust, but it also brings danger.