#YVote4U Election Campaign

In May 2019 South Africans will go to the polls. This will be the mostly contested elections given the different scandals that the different political parties are facing. These elections occur within the context of the Global #MeToo campaign and South Africa’s own #TheTotalShutdown campaign. Both these initiatives brought issues of violence against women into the spotlight and in South Africa led to a Gender Summit with various civil society organisations supporting the 24 demands of #TheTotalShutdown movement.

Most of the political parties are targeting the youth vote for the upcoming elections. The majority of registered voters are women, yet they are not voting on the basis of which party will deliver on the Constitutional commitment to protect and promote the rights of women.

Soul City will lead a Young Women’s Vote - 2019 Elections Campaign in partnership with #TheTotalShutdown, Corruption Watch and Country Duty

The purpose of the campaign: • For women to use this voting democratic tool to advance substantive gender equality and urgently redress gender based violence • Positioning the feminist agenda to be at the center of the election public discourse • Feminist consciousness raising