By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) released and handed over the first South African National Gender-Based Violence Study(NGBVS) , 2022 to minister Sindisiwe Chikunga.
The prevalence study, surveyed 10 012 people from around the country – including 5 603 women and 4 409 men. It indicated that 36% of women in South Africa – an estimated 7.8 million – had experienced physical and/or sexual abuse at some point in their lives.
Dr Nompumelelo Zungu, HSRC Deputy Executive Director, highlighted that this is the first national-level study dedicated to GBV, conducted as a population survey. She noted that while South Africa has policies addressing GBV, progress is hindered by implementation, funding, and other challenges.
Zungu highlighted that the research is extensive and will provide a detailed roadmap for policymakers, activists, and researchers to address South Africa’s ongoing GBV crisis effectively.
Prevalence of GBV among women 18 and older: Physical violence within the 12 months prior to the study found that 6.1% of women (about 1.3 million) experienced physical violence. For recent sexual violence, the figure stands at 2.0%.
Regarding inter-partner violence (IPV), the study indicated that recent physical violence stands at 5.2% while sexual violence is at 2.5%. The figure is higher over a lifetime, with physical violence at 22.4% and sexual violence at 7.9%.
The study also looked at controlling behaviour, which indicated that 57.6% of women experienced this in their lifetime. Alarmingly, 77.2% of men have perpetrated this over their lifetime.
Two-thirds of the men surveyed further agreed “that a woman’s most important role is to take care of her home and cook for her family” and 10.7% think “that a woman should tolerate violence in order to keep her family together”.
Just over 8% of men also believed that “there are times when a woman deserves to be beaten” and almost 32% “that it would be shameful to have a gay son”.
Interestingly, a number of these opinions were also shared by women who were surveyed.
It also delved into child abuse, with 58% of women experiencing physical abuse at a young age. Zungu noted the figure was lower for sexual abuse.
“We suspect that this is as a case of under reporting because when we look at data from other studies women tend to have higher rates but for women, we measured it differently. We were looking at women before age of 15 and while for men we were looking at up to age of 18, ” she said.
Read the full report here: https://hsrc.ac.za/media-pack-first-south-african-national-gender-based-violence-study-2022/.