More than 7-million women in SA have experienced physical violence in their lifetime, according to the country’s first national gender-based violence (GBV) study, conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and released late last year. Black African women are disproportionately affected. This isn’t just a statistic — it’s a national emergency requiring bold, multifaceted solutions.
With the ultraconservative agenda being pursued by right-wing elements in different parts of the world, we are seeing the rolling back of critical gains achieved on gender rights globally or the strengthening of “traditional” misogynistic practices. For example, Kenya’s GBV crisis has reached alarming proportions, with activists declaring femicide a national emergency and thousands taking to the streets to protest.
There is a thriving “manosphere” — a network of misogynistic online influencers who are commanding a huge following among young men. These figures promote toxic masculinity and advocate for controlling women, providing a dangerous justification for violence.
On the other hand, India’s relationship with GBV has been defined by horrific landmark cases that expose systemic failures while spurring reform efforts. The 2012 gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student in Delhi, became a watershed moment, captured in documentaries such as Delhi Crime and the BBC’s India’s Daughter, bringing global attention to an issue that had remained out of the public gaze for a long time.
Despite Singh’s murder triggering significant legal reforms in India, a decade later the brutal murder of Shraddha Walkar by her partner once again brought attention to this issue. This murder occurred despite her having filed a police complaint, demonstrating how little had fundamentally changed. India’s National Family Health Survey found that 30% of married women aged 18-49 had experienced domestic violence, with 96% of sexual violence perpetrated by husbands or former husbands.
We should be spurred into action when one of SA’s leading intellectuals, Pumla Dineo Gqola, argues that women are under siege: “Violence against women is ordinary, it is everywhere, commonplace, made to seem normal.” She also reflects the views of Kenyan women activists, who have little faith in government action, saying the “dispiriting truth” is that “it is easy to kill a woman and get away with it”. Acknowledging how apartheid’s legacy of state-sponsored violence normalised brutality, particularly in marginalised communities, is an important starting point.
It requires South Africans to get to the root causes of GBV and what should be done about it. The HSRC report confirms that GBV is deeply rooted in unequal power dynamics between women and men, reinforced by traditional gender norms that perpetuate male dominance and female subordination. It suggests that there should be a process through government and society of “unlearning and relearning” — dismantling toxic masculinity while promoting healthy, equitable relationships.
The study reveals a mental health crisis among men that directly affects violence against women and proposes that the health department urgently expand mental health services, particularly for GBV survivors, children who witness violence and men struggling with trauma and depression.
The research reveals that most women who experienced violence sought help from police (31%) or health centres (22%), but many faced barriers to accessing quality support. The research also showed that childhood exposure to violence increased the likelihood of both victimisation and perpetration in adulthood. Breaking this intergenerational cycle is therefore crucial for long-term change.
The research found that women’s economic dependency creates vulnerability to abuse, suggesting that gender-transformative economic empowerment programmes must target both women and men while addressing the pushback economically independent women often face from partners.
This means long-term funding is required for family support programmes, community education initiatives and interventions that address the social and structural drivers of violence. It requires moving beyond individual solutions to tackle systemic inequalities around poverty, housing, education and healthcare that create conditions for violence to flourish. We need to act decisively.
• Abba Omar is director of operations at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection.
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