We need to focus on women’s economic empowerment in South Africa, and indeed Africa. We recognise the workplace as formal, virtual, and informal but defined.

Asante Gender Action develops innovative approaches to support new and existing women-owned organisations. Key here is developing women’s resilience.

Our initiatives also include GBV prevention and response that uses the workplace as a platform. Recognising the workplace as a societal microcosm, the initiatives will also involve gender innovation incubations to explore gender identity within the workplace.

To ensure workplaces are free from GBV is about more than ensuring the establishment of and adherence to sexual harassment policies and procedures. Asante sees as a core step the deep awareness of all forms of hostile work environment through addressing male fragility in parallel to women’s empowerment.

Further, we will work on creating enabling environments for economic freedom which will include factors such as working conditions and safety in transit to and from the workplace. Asante is also spearheading research into the cost of societal, domestic and workplace GBV on companies and the country of South Africa.