Are you one in three?

According to activist and Wits University student, Tshepiso Maleswena, statistics have shown that one in three women in South Africa will become a victim of rape of sexual assault in their lives.

The #IAmOneInThree campaign aims to fight this frightening statistic.

The campaign kicked off earlier this year after Rhodes University students released the infamous ‘reference list’ of 11 alleged rapists on social media, resulting in the naked protest against rape during which students aimed to speak out about the fact that nothing had been done to rectify the list.

The campaign works with the Gender Equity Office at Wits University to allow students a safe place to voice their concerns and issues.

“Unfortunately, the office is not situated in a safe place, so we have created a Twitter page where students can always be in touch with us or with the office. We want to allow the students to be in touch with us, but more so with the Gender Equity Office because they have a broader reach,” said Maleswena.

The campaign has also set up a landline to get people in touch with the office – a landline which will hopefully operate for 24 hours each day in the future.

Taking heed of the experience of a female student who reported a rape on the Mandela Bridge as she walked home, due to the fact that she had no money to take a taxi, the campaign has opened talks about pooling funds to assist students in need of money to prevent them from being subjected to risky situations.

The campaign has even taken it upon themselves to report incidents for women who may be too scared to do it themselves.

#IAmOneInThree is a campaign which each volunteer aims to work on continually to emphasise women’s rights throughout the university.