20 Nov Refuse to Look Away: The Women For Change Shutdown

Picture credit: Women For Change

On 21 November, South Africa won’t just be watching — it will be pausing. The Women For Change Shutdown is calling the country into a moment of intentional silence, collective grief, and undeniable visibility. And while the movement isn’t youth-led, young South Africans are stepping into it with a force that can’t be ignored.

For 15 minutes at noon, thousands will lie down in silence to honour the 15 women murdered every single day. It’s a symbolic moment — heavy, honest, and disruptive — designed to show the country what loss looks like when we refuse to look away.

And here’s why the youth are showing up:
Because this crisis doesn’t wait until adulthood. It’s in res rooms. In group chats. In taxis. In first jobs, varsity lecture halls, and late-night fetch-your-friend phone calls. Young women and queer youth have been living in a world where caution feels normal and fear feels inherited. They’re tired of it.

This shutdown isn’t claiming to fix everything. But it is offering a moment — a line in the sand — where young people get to say:
“We’re not accepting this as our future.”

Youth are joining the shutdown not because they’re leading it, but because they understand what’s at stake. They’re wearing black. They’re logging off. They’re lying down. They’re posting, sharing, educating, resharing — turning a national moment into a generational stance.

Because when young people stand with a movement, they give it something powerful, momentum.

And right now, South Africa needs exactly that.