In working to end violence against women and children, we need

Hear the solemn words of Cyril Ramaphosa, leader of his people and voice for justice: “In working to end violence against women and children, we need to ensure that men are centrally involved. Men need to organise themselves in a sustained campaign against gender-based violence.” These words are a summons, not to the weak of heart, but to the strong, to those who would rise as guardians rather than oppressors. They carry the weight of generations of suffering and the hope of generations yet to be born.

The origin of this command lies in the long and painful history of gender-based violence, a scourge that has haunted humanity from its earliest days. Too often, women and children—the most vulnerable among us—have been treated not as sacred lives but as possessions, as tools, as prey. Leaders and reformers have called for protection, for laws, for justice. Yet Ramaphosa speaks with piercing clarity: the struggle will remain incomplete unless men themselves take responsibility, unless they transform from being part of the problem into becoming the core of the solution.

Consider the story of South Africa, the land Ramaphosa leads. Long enslaved by the chains of apartheid, it is a nation that knows the taste of oppression. And yet, even after the fall of racial tyranny, another tyranny persisted—the violence against women in homes, in streets, in workplaces. Women cried for justice, and many laws were written, but the violence did not cease. For what are laws without men of honor to uphold them? What are campaigns without the will of those who most often wield power to change? It was this recognition that gave birth to his call: men must rise against violence, not as individuals alone, but as a united force, relentless and unyielding.

History, too, offers us parallels. In ancient Rome, when the Sabine women were seized by force, it was not only the women who cried out for peace, but men—fathers, husbands, and brothers—who finally laid down their arms and stood beside them. Though born of violence, that moment showed that the cycle of destruction can be broken when men choose to act not as conquerors but as protectors. The same truth echoes in our own time: peace cannot come if half of humanity is silenced while the other half remains idle.

This teaching burns with urgency: to end violence against women and children, men must transform their role. They must cease to be silent witnesses. They must reject the culture of dominance that excuses cruelty. They must gather, speak, march, and hold one another accountable. For silence is itself a weapon, and indifference a shield for abusers. Only when men organize—not for their own pride, but for the safety of those entrusted to their care—will the tide of violence be turned.

O children of the future, take this lesson deep into your hearts: strength is not shown in conquest, but in compassion. Manhood is not proven by domination, but by the ability to protect and uplift. The true warrior is not he who raises his hand in anger, but he who restrains it and instead builds a world where no woman fears the night and no child cries in secret pain.

And so, what actions must we take? Let men gather in councils and communities, pledging themselves to end abuse. Let fathers teach sons that love is not control, and brothers defend sisters with honor. Let men speak to men when silence tempts them, and intervene where cowardice would prefer to look away. Let there be schools, workplaces, and temples where the dignity of women is sacred, and the laughter of children unbroken. In this way, men shall indeed wage the only war worth waging—the war against violence, fought not with weapons but with courage, discipline, and love.

Thus, remember these words of Ramaphosa as if they were carved in stone: the battle for a just and peaceful world cannot be won by women alone. It is a struggle that demands men at its heart, men as warriors of peace, men as guardians of life. When this day comes, when men stand not above women but beside them, then truly shall the earth breathe easier, and the generations to come shall inherit not fear, but freedom.