Browsing by Subject "domestic violence"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    An exploration of the meaning of social justice for survivors of domestic violence in Zimbabwe
    (2023) Zvobgo, Ellen Farisayi; Bennett, Jane
    Globally, the WHO (2014: 10) estimates that one in three women experiences sexual and physical violence at the hands of their intimate partner over their lifetime. According to a Violence Against Women (VAW) Baseline study (2013: 11) in Zimbabwe- two in every three (68%) women who were interviewed reported having experienced some type of gendered violence during their lifetime. Although legislation on the prevention of domestic violence has become, globally, part of many countries' legal frameworks, Zimbabwe instantiated its Domestic Violence Act only in 2007. This came as a result of decades of feminist advocacy at state, legal, and NGO levels which theorized the rights of survivors of domestic violence, usually women as essential to Zimbabwean citizenship. These rights included criminalization of domestic violence and full access to legal processes. As in many other contexts, the weak implementation of this legislation has been widely researched, suggesting that Zimbabwean domestic abuse survivors remain vulnerable (Burton, 2008). Alongside the need for more research lies the question at the heart of this dissertation. Feminist theory has established that the vulnerability of domestic abuse survivors comprises both the legal and the social. Theorists of social justice focus on questions of recognition and redistribution (Fraser, 2008), empowerment (Kabeer, 2016) and the notion of capabilities as intrinsic to fair and equitable social systems and processes (Nussbaum, 2011). This study asks whether and how the provision of shelter space to the survivors (for which provision is made in the Domestic Violence Act) can be theorized as a form of social justice, despite the weakness of the system of courts. In carrying out the study, I worked with one particular shelter, Musasa, in Gweru, Zimbabwe, and explored the experiences of those who had worked with the shelter in multiple ways. This built what I called an “exploded view” of the representations of living and working at a specific place. The concept of “exploded view” comes from architecture and connotes a perspective able to understand different parts of a system or process separately to revise the whole. Data gathering was through in-depth interviews and involved listening to the voices of those who imagined and created the shelter and also those running it. At the centre of the study were twenty women who experienced the shelter as a space in which they lived and their voices were critical in theorising sheltering. Data were analysed using both thematic and content analysis and aimed to tease out the multiple threads of meaning through which people associated with the shelter in different ways made sense of its location and importance for tackling domestic violence in Zimbabwe. While the study is aware of its limitations as a case study, the dissertation's theorization of shelter work as social justice contributes to a feminist theorization of redress for survivors of domestic abuse in Zimbabwe.
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    Implementation in Reality: Magistrates and the Domestic Violence Act
    (2024) Van Rooyen, Alexa; Moult, Kelley
    This dissertation examines magistrates' assessment of their experiences in implementing the Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998. The data has been gathered from in-depth interviews with 6 magistrates from different magisterial jurisdictions in the Western Cape. This study has uncovered many barriers to implementation of the Act, the greatest issue being the lack of resources throughout the courts. Magistrates as well as the South African Police Services (SAPS) also do not receive adequate training. This results in inconsistency in domestic violence courts as well as problems with the return date at court. This study also acknowledges that socio-economic issues, such as drug addiction and gang violence play a role in the rise and perpetuation of domestic violence. President Cyril Ramaphosa has committed himself and the government to combatting domestic violence at both the 2018 and 2022 Presidential Summit. However, domestic violence is still on the rise. Building on the work of similar studies, this dissertation argues for the President and the government to acknowledge their failing efforts, and to improve the communication between themselves and those implementing the Act.
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    Intergenerational transmission of domestic violence in refugee families in Durban, South Africa
    (2025) Maksudi, Kassa; Hoosain, Shanaaz
    The World Health Organization in 2021 reported that 30% of women globally experience violence, with South Africa being infamous for particularly high rates of violence against women, including domestic violence. Despite this, domestic violence experiences and its intergenerational transmission among refugee women living in South Africa remain underexplored. Refugee women living in South Africa are a vulnerable and marginalised population with regard to domestic violence, as their refugee status and other risk factors disproportionately increase their vulnerability. This qualitative embedded single case study adopted an integrated conceptual framework that includes concepts from Heise's ecological framework, social learning theory, and attachment theory to explain the theory of intergenerational transmission. The study aimed to investigate how domestic violence is transmitted intergenerationally among refugee women from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo living in Durban, South Africa. A total of 30 mother-adult daughter pairs of refugee women from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo were purposively sampled through focus group discussions and individual semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed using thematic and case study analysis. The findings revealed a complex interplay of psychosocial mechanisms, including internalisation, socialisation, silencing, re-enactment, guilt, and the influence of the family of origin, all embedded within multi-level risk factors. Some of these risk factors include exposure to domestic violence, lack of social support, refugee status, attitudinal acceptance, and gender norms, contributing to the transmission of domestic violence both within the first generation and from the first to the second generation. Findings also revealed potential protective factors that may be used in culmination with risk factors and psychosocial mechanisms of transmission, which could be critical for informing targeted responses to domestic violence within the study group, underscoring a critical need for targeted interventions. By elucidating specific factors and mechanisms influencing the intergenerational transmission of domestic violence among refugee families, this study enhances our understanding of how domestic violence can be interrupted across generations. It also guides research interventions and policy recommendations. This study also underscores the importance of religious, culturally sensitive, and context-specific approaches in addressing and preventing domestic violence and its transmission across generations in refugee populations.