Emotional abuse, beatings, rape and murder — 50% of women have experienced some type of gender-based violence in their lives, and 75% of men have admitted to perpetrating such incidents. The findings of this Gender Links study (yet to be published), with a sample of 1 500 people, indicates that this violence is ultimately a question of power.
“In a lot of men’s minds there is nothing wrong with that behaviour,” says Kubi Rama, deputy director of Gender Links. “It also shows that views articulated in the public sphere do not correspond with what happens at home. There is a huge contradiction.”
Most violence is domestic and emotional, not sexual, but research has never before documented this. “I don’t know if there’s been progress as there has never been any data to measure it against,” Rama said. Sexual violence stats are the best documented but are considered unreliable due to under-reportage.
A recent report (Criminal Injustice: Violence Against Women in South Africa) said violence against women has reached epidemic proportions. The exact prevalence of it in South Africa is unknown as police statistics are fraught with problems such as under-reporting, corruption and codification of crimes. Even so these statistics for reported rape show 69 117 in 2004/5, 68 076 in 2005/6, 65 201 in 2006/7, 63 818 in 2007/8 and 71 500 in 2008/9.
Carrie Shelver, manager of the gender-based violence programme at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, said it is not a simple matter of judging the prevalence of gender-based violence relative to reported incidents. “Increased reporting could mean more incidents, or it could mean there is more awareness.”
In the past government has made moves to protect and empower women with legislation like the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act as well as the Domestic Violence Act. The latter has existed for over 10 years, but Mbuyiselo Botha of Sonke Gender Justice said police are still not equipped to deal with victims of domestic violence.
“It is a beautiful piece of legislation, but 10 years on not many women have found joy with it,” he said. “Police just don’t have a real grasp of the act and the spirit it is written in. And they have no idea how to implement it.”
Botha said the justice system has failed women: dockets disappear and statements are incorrectly taken. Women are often told by officials not to lay charges and to deal with such problems within their own homes. “Men can literally get away with murder and they know there are no consequences.”
Nonhlanhla Mokwena, executive director at People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA), said it’s not just about domestic violence. Women are still struggling for gender equality in all sectors of society such as in the courts and even religious organisations.
A lot of local churches still enforce bodily oppression on women and treat them like objects, she said. “Patriarchy is not just practiced by men but by other women entrenching the same stereotypes.”
If looking to gauge a woman’s standing in modern day society, Mokwena said one need look no further than the recent spate of ”corrective” rapes and murders of lesbians in South Africa. Four corrective rapes between March and May this year have called attention to the crisis, namely the attacks on Nokuthula Radebe, Noxolo Nogwaza, Nqobile Khumalo and an unnamed 13-year-old girl.
More than 30 lesbians have been killed in corrective rape cases in South Africa since 1998, yet only one case has resulted in conviction. Most alarming, Mokwena said, is the violent manner in which these hate crimes are conducted with methods that include repeated stabbing and brutally bashing the victims heads against rocks.
A 2008 study conducted by LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trangendered and Intersex) group, the Triangle Project, found that 86% of black lesbian women in Western Cape say they live in fear of sexual assault. The organisation has said it deals with up to 10 new cases of corrective rape per week.
In May this year, government set up a task force to deal with combating corrective rape and murder. The proposed strategies include the amendment of the Sexual Offences Act to account for sexual orientation as an aggravating factor, which should lead to heavier sentences. But the economic recession brought with it a lull in gender activism.
Mokwena said that since the crash, civil society must compete for funding and as a result there is no strong movement at present. But she insists activists will always fight for the rights of women — “even if we help five or 10 women in a year then it is good enough”. “I refuse to believe that we can’t make inroads,” Rama said.
There is a need to rethink the campaign strategy. “It’s about recasting how we do gender-based advocacy work. HIV campaigns have always been about prevention and we need to do the same.”
Rama said localised initiatives are the key. (“A knock on the door from a neighbour could stop the abuse”). It’s about collective responsibility. Botha said civil society is in need of new consciousness — something which is already developing behind the scenes. “I can see it coming from the grass roots,” he says.
The Muslim Marriage Bill
Muslim marriages are not legally recognised and therefore not regulated in South Africa affording Muslim men the opportunity to divorce their wives and even leave them destitute. The proposed Muslim Marriage Bill, now being redrafted, will offer more legislative protection for women despite a handful of detractors in the Islamic community.
Mohammad Groenewald, deputy president of the Muslim Youth Movement said he views the bill as a positive move. “There are more negative impacts for women who bare the brunt of issues. Currently — there is no protection for Muslim women. Most religious organisations and judicial bodies, he said, agree with the principle of the bill although there are finer details that need to be smoothed out.
Kamraj Anirudhra, parliamentary officer at the Commission for Gender Equality, said very few people don’t support the bill, but for those who don’t the reasons are obvious: women are now permitted to look after their own finances and acquire assets. It gives them an advantage or an equality they never had before — and some people are simply uncomfortable with it and not used to the idea. The bill attempts to give protection and the right to human dignity — but, ultimately, no law can regulate the dynamic within the home, Anirudhra said.
A global disease
Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. Most often, the abuser is a member of her own family. Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women — more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined.
Studies suggest that up to 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence annually. Nearly one in five teenage girls who have been in a relationship said a boyfriend threatened violence or self-harm if presented with a breakup. Domestic violence victims lose nearly 8 million days of paid work per year in the US alone — the equivalent of 32,000 full-time jobs. Men who as children witnessed their parents’ domestic violence were twice as likely to abuse their own wives than sons of nonviolent parents.
The most common act of violence against women is being slapped — an experience reported by 9% of women in Japan and 52% in provincial Peru. Rates of sexual abuse also vary greatly around the world — with partner rape being reported by 6% of women from Serbia and Montenegro, 46% of women from provincial Bangladesh, and 59% of women in Ethiopia. In Zimbabwe, domestic violence accounts for more than 60% of murder cases that go through the high court in Harare. — Sources: feminist.com & domesticviolencestatistics.org