Abused women are weak and stupid if they stay with their violent partners. At least that’s the popular view of domestic violence sufferers who don’t try to escape their homes.
In South Africa, however, poverty and destitution are often the only options for women who choose to leave their violent husbands or boyfriends — they simply exchange one nightmare for another.
The Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, in conjunction with the department of housing, has created a draft report that explores the housing needs of vulnerable women and raises the possibility of giving these women a way out by providing affordable housing.
The report is a way to explore how access to housing can be used as an intervention for domestic violence sufferers, says Liesl Gerntholtz, director of Tshwaranang. It also reflects a movement away from reliance on the criminal justice system, which has ”failed women so often”.
It outlines the differeant elements that constitute adequate housing, including legal security of tenure, availability of services, infrastructure affordability and accessible housing.
Issues concerning security of tenure are particularly problematic as domestic violence erodes women’s rights to this security in various ways.
Abused women are periodically and sometimes permanently evicted by their partners, according to the report. Once displaced from their homes they have to move to shelters or seek other accommodation to escape their partners.
South African women also earn less and are less likely to be permanently employed. As a result, abused women are economically dependent on their abusers.
”While women are likely to move between family, friends and shelters in their search for accommodation, some do end up sleeping on the streets. This, too, places women at risk of violence,” says the report.
It also draws attention to the fact that, where women depend on their partners for access to housing, reporting abuse might result in the couple’s joint eviction from their home. For example, where the partner is a farm worker, reports of abuse that reach his employer could result in his dismissal from the farm and subsequent eviction.
The lack of legal protection given to unmarried women is another problem highlighted by the report. They could have lived with a partner for a number of years, yet have no proprietary rights if the relationship breaks down or the partner dies.
The report highlights the fact that in South Africa, in the age group of 35 to 39 years, 33,6% of black women have never been married. ”The most vulnerable people in South Africa are unmarried women,” says Gerntholtz. ”They have no legal protection whatsoever.”
She points out that the recently introduced Civil Unions Bill offered the opportunity to recognise domestic partnerships and thus protect unmarried women in terms of rights to property. But this section of the Bill was absent when it finally became law last year.
Women are just as vulnerable in a marriage and the protections offered by the Domestic Violence Act are often not utilised when a husband beats his wife. The Act allows for the eviction of men who beat their partners, but magistrates are seldom willing to use these provisions, says Gerntholtz.
The practice of allocating housing subsidies also comes under the spotlight. The national housing subsidy database identifies many women, along with their male partners, as beneficiaries of a subsidy.
”Those responsible for recording ownership of the house, however, have been known to record under the name of the male partner,” says the report. ”Should the relationship come to an end, such women will have no legal right to the house as well as being ineligible for any further subsidies.”
With all these factors compounding the problems facing abused women, the report suggests interventions to help them.
Earmarking housing subsidies for people with ”special needs” could be extended to incorporate vulnerable women. Similarly, the design and location of public housing could be changed in small ways to protect women from abuse.
Interviews with women in Gauteng revealed that it is easier to escape abuse when there are two exits to a home and neighbours will respond to screams for help if they live in a well-lit area.
While the report is a provisionary document, Gerntholtz is optimistic that it could spell real change in the lives of many abused women, provided the gap between policy and implementation is not impossible to close should the department of housing choose to adopt its recommendations.
