1 in 4 women experience intimate partner violence -HSRC
One in four women has experienced lifetime physical intimate partner violence, while one in 13 experienced lifetime sexual intimate partner violence.
A recent study has revealed that 35.5% of women in South Africa experienced sexual and/or physical violence in their lifetime.
This translates to over 7.8 million women aged 18 years and older.
A further 23.9%, or more than 3.4 million women, said they experienced sexual and/or physical violence at the hands of an intimate partner.
The Human Science Research Council (HSRC) released the findings of the first national gender-based violence prevalence study in Tshwane on Monday.
More than 10,000 men and women participated in the survey.
The study also questioned men on the perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV).
“When we look at lifetime, 16.7% of men indicated that they have perpetrated physical IPV against their partner; 7.5% for sexual violence, and lastly physician and/or sexual violence over a lifetime, and that was 20.05%,” explained Dr Nompumelelo Zungu.
The council defines intimate partner violence as behaviour by a current or former partner that causes physical, sexual, or psychological harm,
including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours.
AWARENESS AND PERCEPTIONS OF LAWS
The study found that while there was a high awareness of laws amongst men, responses showed 9.9% of ever-partnered men (married or cohabiting) held the view that women who were raped are usually to blame for putting themselves in that situation.
A further 11.9% agreed that if a woman does not physically fight back, it is not rape.
“The data also show that 15% of ever-partnered men agreed that if a wife does something wrong, her husband has a right to punish her, and 22.5% believed that a woman could not refuse to have sex with her husband,” the report revealed.
When receiving the report in Hatfield on Monday, Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga said it was unacceptable for men to think that any form of violence against their partners could be justified.
The minister said she was encouraged by the knowledge that South Africans knew that GBV was wrong.
“They are now aware that beating a partner for whatever reason is wrong. For whatever reason.”
Chikunga said the report was an opportunity to assess the government’s efforts to tackle the scourge of GBV.
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