On this day in 2025, South Africa officially classified gender-based violence and femicide as a national disaster, following nationwide protests where women across the country lay down for 15 minutes at noon to honour the 15 women murdered daily in South Africa. The declaration came after the Women for Change movement's "G20 Women's Shutdown" campaign gathered over one million petition signatures and saw demonstrations in major cities including Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. This historic categorisation enabled government departments to redirect allocated budgets toward implementing immediate measures to combat the crisis, marking a watershed moment in South Africa's struggle against gender-based violence.
This Day in History: 21 November 2025