As the global community commemorates International Women’s Day 2025 under the theme “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress,” it is imperative to direct attention toward the frequently overlooked yet essential contributions of women human rights defenders and care workers throughout southern Africa. These individuals occupy the critical intersection between activism and caregiving, simultaneously maintaining societal infrastructure and advocating for justice in a region confronting numerous socioeconomic challenges.

This blog is informed by extensive literature review and a series of conversations conducted between January and February 2025 with women on the frontlines of human rights defence and care work across the Southern African region. To protect their safety and privacy, pseudonyms have been used for all direct testimonials, though their experiences and quotes remain authentic. These conversations revealed patterns of experience that statistical data alone cannot capture, providing crucial insights into the daily lived realities of women whose work remains largely unrecognised.

Despite their fundamental roles, women in southern Africa continue to encounter systemic barriers that restrict recognition of their contributions, adequate compensation, and necessary protection. This analysis examines their lived experiences, mental and physical well-being, and economic contributions, while calling for substantive policy reforms.

The Dual Burden: Human Rights Defence and Care Work

Women human rights defenders in southern Africa operate under particularly challenging circumstances. They advocate for land rights, environmental justice, LGBTQ+ protections, and against gender-based violence, while concurrently bearing the primary responsibility for care work within their families and communities.

As stated by Ms. Nthabiseng Mokoena (2024), a land rights activist from Lesotho, during an interview with the Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network;

 “I spend my mornings helping community members document land grabs by mining companies, my afternoons at the legal aid centre translating documents for elderly villagers, and my evenings caring for my three children and elderly mother. The work never stops, but neither does the injustice.”

This testimony reflects the reality for thousands of women across the region who perform this dual role without adequate support structures and infrastructure, as documented in the 2023 SADC Gender Protocol Barometer (Southern African Development Community, 2023).

Mental Health and Well-being: An Unaddressed Crisis

The impact on women’s mental health is significant. Research conducted by the Southern African Mental Health Coalition (2024) indicates that women human rights defenders and care workers experience:

• 78% higher rates of burnout compared to the general population
• 63% report symptoms of anxiety and depression
• 82% lack access to mental health support services
• 91% continue working despite experiencing symptoms of severe stress

According to Dr. Pumla Ndlovu (2023), a psychologist specialising in trauma among had this to say;

“These women experience compound trauma from witnessing rights violations, facing threats themselves, and carrying the emotional burden of their communities.

Physical Health: Neglected and Compromised

The physical toll is equally concerning. Care work frequently involves heavy lifting, extended periods standing, and exposure to infectious diseases. Concurrently, human rights defence can entail physical risks, particularly in contexts where activists face threats and intimidation. Health statistics among women caregivers in the region, as reported by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (2023), demonstrate:

• 67% report chronic back pain and musculoskeletal issues
• 74% postpone their own medical care due to time and financial constraints
• 59% lack health insurance or access to occupational health services
• 83% of community health workers report inadequate protective equipment

Economic Contributions: Uncounted and Uncompensated

The economic value of women’s unpaid and underpaid work remains largely uncounted in official GDP calculations, despite its fundamental importance to Southern African economies.

According to the 2024 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Gender Protocol Barometer:

• Women’s unpaid care work is estimated to contribute 30-40% of GDP across SADC countries if properly valued
• Women perform 76% of all unpaid care work in the region
• Community health workers, 85% of whom are women, provide services valued at approximately $6.9 billion annually across SADC countries
• Women human rights defenders contribute expertise valued at an estimated $1.2 billion annually through legal aid, community education, and advocacy

The International Labour Organization’s report “The Value of Care” (2023) estimates that if women’s unpaid care work were recognised and compensated at minimum wage levels, it would add $10.8 trillion to the global economy.

Country Spotlights: Women Sustaining Economies

South Africa

In South Africa, women contribute 48% to the country’s GDP while performing 3.3 times more unpaid care work than men, according to Statistics South Africa (2024). The “Sisonke” network of community caregivers provides essential healthcare services to over 4.2 million people living with HIV, tuberculosis, and non-communicable diseases, saving the healthcare system an estimated R7.8 billion ($430 million) annually (South African Department of Health, 2023).

Ms. Nokuthula Mabaso (2024), a community health worker from KwaZulu-Natal, stated in testimony before the South African Parliament’s Health Committee;

“I walk 15 kilometres daily to reach patients in rural areas. I’m paid a stipend of R2,500 ($140) monthly not even minimum wage yet the government calls us ‘volunteers.’ Without us, the healthcare system would collapse, especially during COVID-19 when we were frontline workers.”

Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, women constitute 86% of the informal agricultural sector, producing 70% of the country’s food while receiving only 10% of agricultural loans and resources (UN Women Zimbabwe Country Report, 2023). Women human rights defenders have been instrumental in exposing corruption and advocating for economic justice despite facing significant personal risks, as documented by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2024).

Mozambique

Mozambique’s recovery from multiple cyclones and ongoing insurgency in Cabo Delgado has been largely facilitated by women-led community organizations. The United Nations Development Programme (2024) reports that women comprise 83% of disaster response volunteers while simultaneously rebuilding homes, maintaining food security through subsistence farming, and sustaining community cohesion.

The Cost of Inaction: Why Recognition Matters

The failure to recognize, value, and support women human rights defenders and care workers has profound consequences:

1. Economic inefficiency. When women are forced to reduce formal labour market participation due to unpaid care responsibilities, economies lose skilled workers and productive capacity (World Bank, 2023).
2. Health system fragility. The burnout and attrition of community health workers threaten already precarious healthcare systems (African Union Commission on Health, 2024).
3. Weakened human rights protection. When women defenders lack resources and protection, human rights violations go unchallenged and unaddressed (Amnesty International, 2023).
4. Intergenerational poverty cycles. When women’s economic contributions go unrecognised and uncompensated, poverty persists across generations (African Development Bank, 2024).

The Way Forward: Accelerating Progress

This year’s International Women’s Day theme calls for investment in women to accelerate progress. For Southern Africa’s women human rights defenders and care workers, meaningful investment would include:

For Governments

• Enact legislation recognizing care work as work, with appropriate compensation and social protection
• Establish specific protection mechanisms for women human rights defenders
• Include the value of unpaid care work in national accounting and GDP calculations
• Allocate at least 5% of national health budgets to community health worker programs
• Implement the ILO’s “5R Framework” for addressing unpaid care work: Recognition, Reduction, Redistribution, Rewards, and Representation (International Labour Organization, 2022)

For International Organizations and Donors

• Provide direct, flexible funding to women-led organisations at the grassroots level
• Support mental health programs specifically designed for women activists and care workers
• Fund research quantifying women’s economic contributions across sectors
• Ensure development programs include measures to redistribute care responsibilities

For Private Sector:

• Implement family-friendly policies including parental leave, flexible work arrangements, and childcare support
• Partner with women-led community organisations to strengthen corporate social responsibility initiatives
• Ensure supply chains respect women’s labour rights and provide fair compensation. Pay equity remains a big issue and must be addressed.

For Civil Society

• Create solidarity networks that provide practical support to women activists and caregivers
• Challenge gender norms that assign care responsibilities primarily to women
• Document and amplify women’s stories and contributions to society
• Advocate for policy changes that recognise and value women’s work

As the international community observes International Women’s Day 2025,substantial progress necessitates structural change, resource allocation, and a fundamental revaluation of women’s contributions to Southern African societies and economies. When societies invest in the women who defend rights and provide care, they accelerate progress not only for women but for entire communities and nations.

This blog is dedicated to the memory of all women who may have lost their lives in service to their communities.