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South Africa: roots of rape
Asian challenge
06/2006 |
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South Africa: roots of rape
Rita Schäfer:
Im Schatten der Apartheid [In the shadow of apartheid].
Women’s rights organisations and gender-based violence in South Africa].
Münster, Lit-Verlag 2005, 496 pages,
¤29.90, ISBN 3-8258-8676-X
South Africa’s Constitution of 1996 is held in high regard, because it enshrines broad principles of equality and the right to freedom from violence. Nonetheless, this country is world leader in terms of rape and domestic violence. Only recently, former Vice President Jacob Zuma was acquitted in a rape case. This highly-questionable judicial decision reflects deep-rooted gender-norms in South African society.
In her study, Rita Schäfer investigates the extent of – and the reasons for – the gap between the goals defined in the Constitution and actual reality. She structures her work both vertically (along a time line from pre-colonial times to today) and horizontally (contrasting different social settings). Thanks to this approach, a detailed picture emerges of the complex and partially conflicting women’s rights movement in South Africa. There are many organisations with very heterogeneous backgrounds, which cannot only be explained by the country’s ethnic and cultural diversity.
It is hardly surprising that the apartheid regime used gender-based violence as an instrument
of power. It is more striking that ANC fighters’ attitude of violent masculinity is also a problem. To the present day, gender-based violence has been legitimised
by the patriarchal structures of African ethnic groups, the “coloureds” and the Boers. The author cites the increase of so-called “gang rapes” as one example of worrying trends. She also explores a particularly perverse form of sexualised violence: the rape of ever younger girls. Having sex with a virgin is believed to cure HIV/Aids. This form of abuse can also be traced back to an unholy alliance of patriarchal structures, traditional precedent and political dominance through brute force.
The victims of sexual violence are getting younger and younger. Today, a third are under 18. The most vulnerable are single women, with or without children, who live in miserable townships, earning their precarious incomes without any kind of protection. The less-than-sensitive treatment victims can expect from the police along with extremely low rates of offenders being convicted reduce the likelihood of women reporting their sufferings. Only 20% to 30% of rape cases are officially reported, and only 7% of culprits are convicted.
An amazingly large number of studies has been published on the matter. Numerous organisations and initiatives are fighting gender-based violence, and helping the survivors to come to grips with their ordeal. Efforts to have the Sexual Offences Act amended and to train and sensitise the police towards the problem give additional grounds for hope. The “Domestic Violence Act” came into effect in 1999, in response to pressure from women’s organisations. It is the first law in the country’s history to look at various forms of gender-based violence, making them punishable offences.
All in all, the situation is unlikely to improve substantially until South Africans develop a different understanding of masculinity. Unfortunately, awareness of the need to change male attitudes is not yet widespread. Nonetheless, a few men’s groups are tackling the issue – for instance, a group of young lifeguards from Durban. It considers itself an alternative to the “gangs”.
Eva-Maria Bruchhaus
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