Rural Women Farmers Demand Action as GBV Pandemic Continues to Threaten Lives

For women in agriculture, the threat of gender-based violence (GBV) is more than statistics, it’s a daily reality that shapes every step they take on isolated farms, in rural towns, and along empty country roads.

This Friday, as thousands across South Africa participate in the Women’s Shutdown, women in agriculture are adding their voices to a national outcry. Their message is urgent: protection, visibility, and accountability are long overdue.

Hidden Struggles on Remote Farms

Elize Beuke, a mixed farmer from Keimoes in the Northern Cape, paints a stark picture:

“Women in agriculture often work in isolation, rely economically on partners or employers, and have limited access to police, transport, or safe reporting channels. Abuse here often goes unseen and unheard.”

For many, fear is compounded by geography. Empty roads, poor infrastructure, and inadequate lighting make reporting or escaping abuse a daunting challenge.

“Government must strengthen rural policing with trained GBV officers, fully resourced victim-support facilities, and mobile units that can reach remote farms,” Beuke says. She also calls for anti-harassment policies, community education campaigns, and investments in rural infrastructure to give women safer access to help.

Fear in Silence

For younger farmers like Dineo Mphahlele, a vegetable farmer in Winterveld, Gauteng, fear is constant.

“Seeing news of women killed or children raped leaves me feeling vulnerable. Walking the streetsor even working in the fieldsis no longer safe. I am constantly aware of the risks, and it’s worse being a woman in a male-dominated industry where respect is not always given.”

Mphahlele also points to the dangers posed by unused rural land, often exploited as spaces for assault. She stresses that government and traditional leaders must collaborate to tackle these hidden threats.

GBV: A National Scourge

Wendy Petersen, CEO of SA Olive, underscores the scale of the crisis:

“Violence against women and children has become so common that it’s often treated as a societal norm. Daily headlines detail beatings, threats, emotional abuse, and killings. Many survivors feel powerless and unheard.”

Petersen warns that normalising violence is one of GBV’s most damaging consequences, allowing the cycle to persist unchecked. She emphasises the need for long-term interventions, such as nurturing family environments, positive role models, early childhood development, and teaching respect, empathy, and equality from a young age.

A Call for Action During the Women’s Shutdown

Women for Change, organisers of the national protest, are calling on women and LGBTQI+ communities to refrain from all paid and unpaid work, avoid spending money, and visibly demonstrate the economic and social impact of their absence.

“Until South Africa stops burying a woman every 2.5 hours, the G20 cannot claim progress or growth,” the organisation said.

For rural women in agriculture, the protest is not only about visibilityit is about demanding systemic change, better rural policing, access to safe reporting channels, and economic empowerment that allows them to act without fear of retribution.

Coordinated Change Is Urgent

Beuke sums up the stakes:

“Meaningful change will require a coordinated effort between government, traditional leaders, agricultural organisations, and communities to ensure rural women are protected, respected, and heard. We cannot continue leaving women to survive in silence.”

As the Women’s Shutdown unfolds, the voices of women farmers in Keimoes, Winterveld, and across rural South Africa will join a collective call: GBV is not just a headline, it is a lived reality that demands urgent action.

{Source: Food For Mzanzi}

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