Mkwananzi Sibusiso, Nathane-Taulela Motlalepule
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Department of Social Work, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Front Glob Womens Health. 2024 Jul 24;5:1199743. doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2024.1199743. eCollection 2024.
Globally, Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) remains a multifaceted social issue in the 21st century. Despite the ratification of international treaties and national laws, South Africa continues to have alarmingly high levels of GBVF, which were worsened during the Covid-19 national lockdown. The 2020 crime statistics reported that one in five South African women were victims of GBVF and South African Police Services (SAPS) data from 2015 to 2020 showed that seven women are killed daily nationwide. Despite copious studies on GBVF, the voices of local community members and activists as key collaborators in such research have been excluded. Therefore, this study used a mixed methods approach to determine the known interventions to decrease or eliminate GBVF and their effectiveness in seven communities across South Africa. The study included 191 participants in a survey for the quantitative aspect as well as a qualitative aspect of the study. Community members participated in gender-specific focus group discussions, while activists had a focus group of their own to obtain data on interventions. Our findings showed that three main forms of interventions existed in South Africa, viz. government-led campaigns that normally occurred during the 16 days of activism against violence towards women and children, community-led campaigns in response to GBVF cases reported in the media as well as NGO-led initiatives to support GBV survivors. However, these interventions were stifled by the social and cultural stigma against reporting GBVF, a lack of sustainability, decreased visibility, poor organisation and management as well as a lack of funding. Therefore, our findings show that while the South African government has made strides in its efforts to eliminate GBVF, there are no sustainable community level programming and interventions aimed at changing social norms and toxic masculinity that perpetuate GBVF. In conclusion, we recommend that efforts be made to implement intervention initiatives that go beyond creating awareness on GBVF, but partner with local NGO-led organizations to engage in programming and intervention that is aimed at changing social norms.
在全球范围内，基于性别的暴力和杀害妇女行为（GBVF）在21世纪仍然是一个多方面的社会问题。尽管国际条约和国家法律已获批准，但南非基于性别的暴力发生率仍然高得惊人，在新冠疫情全国封锁期间情况更加恶化。2020年的犯罪统计数据显示，五分之一的南非女性是基于性别的暴力的受害者，南非警察局（SAPS）2015年至2020年的数据显示，全国每天有7名女性被杀害。尽管对基于性别的暴力进行了大量研究，但当地社区成员和作为此类研究关键合作者的活动家的声音却被排除在外。因此，本研究采用混合方法来确定减少或消除基于性别的暴力的已知干预措施及其在南非七个社区的有效性。该研究在定量和定性方面共包括191名参与者。社区成员参加了针对性别的焦点小组讨论，而活动家们则有自己的焦点小组以获取干预措施的数据。我们的研究结果表明，南非存在三种主要的干预形式，即通常在为期16天的反对暴力侵害妇女和儿童的宣传活动期间开展的政府主导的运动、针对媒体报道的基于性别的暴力案件开展的社区主导的运动以及非政府组织主导的支持基于性别的暴力幸存者的倡议。然而，这些干预措施受到了对举报基于性别的暴力行为的社会和文化污名、缺乏可持续性、能见度降低、组织和管理不善以及资金短缺的阻碍。因此，我们的研究结果表明，虽然南非政府在消除基于性别的暴力方面已取得进展，但缺乏旨在改变导致基于性别的暴力长期存在的社会规范和有害男性气质的可持续社区层面的规划和干预措施。总之，我们建议努力实施超越提高对基于性别的暴力认识的干预举措，而是与当地非政府组织主导的组织合作，开展旨在改变社会规范的规划和干预。
