Pretoria: The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities has expressed concern over the pervasive “hidden crisis” of domestic and intimate partner violence, which is highlighted in a Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) report. Conducted in 2024, the report revealed that one in three women in South Africa have experienced physical intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
According to South African Government News Agency, these numbers represent the lived realities of millions of women enduring suffering behind closed doors, as emphasized by department spokesperson, Cassius Selala. The study also highlighted higher victimisation among black African women and women with disabilities. While national statistics indicate a drop in overall violent crime during the second quarter of 2024, gender-based violence (GBV) crimes continue to rise.
The report disclosed that between July and September 2024, 957 women were murdered, 1,567 survived attempted murders, and 14,366 were assaulted, resulting in grievous bodily harm. Additionally, 10,191 cases of rape were reported during this period. Selala noted that intimate domestic violence manifests in various forms, often intertwined and escalating over time, including physical and sexual abuse, as well as emotional, psychological, and economic or financial forms. Recognising these different types of abuse is deemed critical in addressing the problem.
Selala also cautioned that the impact of intimate domestic violence extends far beyond physical injuries, with victims often experiencing a range of severe and long-lasting consequences. Domestic violence threatens the economic progress of women achieved in recent decades. Intimate domestic violence is described as a pattern of abusive behaviours used by one partner to maintain power and control over another in an intimate relationship, encompassing a range of coercive and controlling actions beyond physical harm.
Globally, the World Health Organisation estimates that one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most often at the hands of an intimate partner. The figures in South Africa are particularly grim. At the end of 2024, the HSRC released the First South African National Gender-Based Violence Study, detailing the prevalence of physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, and economic violence experienced by women across all nine provinces.
To discuss some of the survey’s findings, the HSRC recently hosted a webinar titled: ‘Addressing poverty and inequality as drivers of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) perpetrated against vulnerable populations in South Africa: The importance of economic empowerment interventions’. The webinar focused on poverty and inequality as drivers of gender-based violence and femicide perpetrated against women, including women with disabilities, women from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) community, black African women, and older women (over the age of 60).