In the past three weeks, profile pictures with a purple tint have taken over certain sections of social media.
The color change is part of a movement to bring attention to the situation in South Africa, where gender-based violence towards women is at an all-time high. According to BBC News Africa, every day 15 females are murdered, which is five times higher than the global average.
In response to this, the group Women for Change started a campaign to raise awareness and protest for change. Purple profile pictures represent solidarity, mourning for victims, and hope for change.
Although the movement originated in South Africa, it has since spread worldwide, with certain influencers, celebrities, and Grammy-winning artist Tyla speaking up.
Other social media users, though, have put a green tint on their profile pictures to raise awareness for men. Men’s struggles should be accounted for too, and some of those profile pictures were meant only to highlight that issue. But others have been used to mock the purple ones and the women in South Africa.
Then there were the people who claimed that changing a profile picture would accomplish nothing. These people were proven wrong when just two weeks after the online protests started, social media users started protesting in real life. Protests happened across 15 cities in South Africa, including Cape Town and Durban.
Women were urged to “withdraw from the economy” and lie on their backs for 15 minutes, one minute for each of the 15 women who are killed in South Africa on a daily basis. Protesters wore black to symbolize mourning.
An online petition was also made by Women for Change to declare gender-based violence a national disaster in South Africa. Within days, the petition raised over a million verified signatures.
Shortly after these protests and the successful petition, the South African government officially declared gender-based violence against women a national disaster. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said action needs to be taken to maintain the safety of South African women and children.
Purple profile pictures have shown that social media protests can work and that even people who are on a different continent can make a difference. If social media is used correctly, it can become a powerful way to raise awareness to issues that matter.
