· By Team PLEASE
By now, you should have noticed all the purple everywhere
Purple profile pictures. Purple hearts. Purple posts, ribbons, nails, T-shirts.
It’s not just an aesthetic or a trend. It’s a movement.
Started by Women For Change, a South African organisation, this movement has been amplifying women’s voices and fighting gender-based violence for years. They asked women to pause, to withdraw, and to make the weight of their labour visible : The emotional, economic, and physical weight, in a society that often ignores it.
Purple is the colour of resistance, courage, and collective refusal. And right now, South Africa is turning purple. Not quietly, but deliberately.
On November 21st, women across the country will shut down. Not stepping back, but standing together. Not giving up, but refusing to carry this weight alone anymore.
12:00 PM | The 15‑Minute Standstill
There is no official march this time.
Instead, at 12:00 PM, participants will lie down for 15 minutes wherever they are, offices, parks, streets, or homes, representing the ±15 women murdered every single day in South Africa.
A collective body.
A collective refusal.
A collective reminder that this is an emergency, not a headline.
Why We’re Pausing
South Africa’s women and queer communities are living inside a violence epidemic that is too often treated like background noise.
Safety is not guaranteed.
Existing is labour.
We are tired of being expected to just “carry on.”
On November 21st, we stop.
We withdraw our spending, our labour, our emotional load.
We create a gap big enough to be noticed.
How to Participate
Wear purple or black with purple accents.
Lie down at 12:00 PM at home, at work, or wherever your body is safe.
Withdraw your labour, paid and unpaid, if possible.
Avoid spending for the day.
Change your profile picture to purple.
Share the message. Talk about it. Refuse silence.
If there are gatherings of any kind that you decide to join, remember to bring water. Move in groups. Know your route home. We show up for each other, not just the cause.
This Is Not the End
A shutdown is a start. A line drawn. A refusal to continue quietly.
We shut down to stand up.
We turn purple to be seen.
We do this together.
Learn more via Change.org