Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, Crimes and victims: A report on the Dayton-San Jose pilot survey of victimisation. National Criminal Justice Information and Statistical Service, 1974.

E Stanko, Intimate intrusions: Women’s experience of male violence, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1985.

M P Koss, Detecting the scope of rape: A review of prevalence research methods, Crime and Delinquency, 31, 1993, pp. 169-190.

Human Rights Watch, 1997; NICRO, 1993; Rape Crisis Cape Town, 1993.

L Vetten, Man shoots wife, Crime and Conflict, 6, Winter 1996.

L Artz, Violence against women in rural southern Cape: Exploring access to justice through a feminist jurisprudence framework, Institute of Criminology, University of Cape Town, 1999.

CIAC, The incidence of serious crime: January-December 1998, SAPS Crime Information Analysis Centre, Semester Report 1/99, Pretoria, 1998.

Ibid.

South African Police Service Crime Information Analysis Centre (CIAC), 1998.

United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women, 1994 cited in L Artz, Z Dangor, LAFoster, M Hasserlerharm, R Mantoo, E Musaba, A Pillay & J Takura, NGO shadow report to CEDAW — South Africa focus: Violence against women, Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre, East London, 1998.

R Wright, Beijing ‘95: Strike the women..., Mail & Guardian, September 1995.

L Vogelman & G Eagle, Overcoming endemic violence against women, Social Justice, 18(1-2), 1991.

Artz, 1998, op. cit.

Only those over 18 years were selected to avoid having to seek consent from guardians in order to conduct interviews with minors.

Domestic abuse was defined as abuse perpetrated by a family member or someone with whom the victim was cohabiting at the time of the abuse.

A Louw, M Shaw, L Camerer & R Robertshaw, Crime in Johannesburg: Results of a city victim survey, ISS Monograph Series, 18, Institute for Security Studies, Halfway House, February 1998; L Camerer, A Louw, M Shaw, L Artz & W Scharf, Crime in Cape Town: Results of a city victim survey, ISS Monograph Series, 23, Institute for Security Studies, Halfway House, April 1998; A Louw, Crime in Pretoria: Results of a city victim survey, Institute for Security Studies and Idasa, August 1998.

K Ross, Battered women: An invisible issue. Women, rape and violence in South Africa: Two preliminary studies, Community Law Centre, University of Western Cape, Bellville, 1993.

Z Dangor et al., Women abuse in South Africa: An exploratory study, Nisaa Institute for Women’s Development, Lenasia, 1996.

Some women described more than one effect which explains why there are more than six responses noted here.

The reason for the discrepancy in the number of women who said they had an abortion in this section and in the section on ‘pregnancy’ above is that respondents chose not to answer some questions, but would answer others later on that may have covered the same ground.

Louw et al., 1998, op. cit.; Camerer et al., 1998, op. cit.; Louw, 1998, op. cit.; SSA, National victims of crime survey, Statistics SA, Pretoria, December 1998.

P-K Loveday et al., Gender violence in South Africa: Causes, effects and responses, Urbanisation and Health Newsletter, 34, September 1997.

M Penderis, Facts behind the headlines, Media release, CIET, 1998.

Of the seven cases that went to trial, one was for an incident of emotional abuse, one for physical abuse and five for sexual abuse.

More than 46 women in this study sought the assistance of the police in the past five years. However some women could not, or refused to state when the most serious incident of abuse occurred. Their views are thus not included here. In all, 21% of women who had been to the police did not report when the incident occurred. Since experiences with service providers in the past five years are more relevant for policy makers, the views of these 46 women about how they were treated by the police, are described below.

A district surgeon is a doctor employed by the government whose function is to collect forensic evidence (medical proof) of particular cases in preparation for court.

More than eleven women may indeed have sought help from district surgeons in the last five years: since 25% of women could not, or refused to state when the incident occurred, their experiences have not been included in this analysis. The experiences of such a small group of women cannot be statistically analysed. Analysis is further limited because respondents did not always describe their experiences as was required by the questionnaire: women were often fatigued at this stage in the interview or were unwilling to speak of this particular experience.

The J88 form documents the results of the district surgeon’s examination. After the examination, this form is given back to the police. The details on the J88 form can provide evidence, if the case goes to court, to show that sexual assault has occurred.

It is possible that more than nineteen women sought legal assistance in the last five years, since 17% of women could not, or refused to state when the incident occurred.

See Appendix 1 for further information about women’s suggestions on improving the police service.

See Appendix 1 for further information about women’s suggestions on improving social welfare.

See Appendix 1 for further information about women’s suggestions for improving emergency clinics.

See Appendix 1 for further information about women’s suggestions for improving the service provided by district surgeons.

See Appendix 1 for further information about women’s suggestions for improving courts.

Louw, 1998, op. cit.; A Louw, Comparing crime in South Africa’s major cities: Results from four city victim surveys, African Security Review, 8(1), 1999.

Louw, 1998, op. cit.

The remaining 11% of women said improvements to the criminal justice system would help them to feel safer at home.

A quarter of women (24%) said better personal security and self-defence capabilities would make them feel safer in public and 5% mentioned the removal of the abuser.

ISS Pretoria city victim survey, 1998.

SSA, op. cit.

Louw, 1999, op. cit.

For further information about the other suggestions made by women on how government could improve their safety, see Appendix 2.

See Appendix 2 for further information about women’s suggestions for reducing violence against women.

For information about other suggestions put forward by women about how the community could help improve women’s safety, see Appendix 2.

For further details, see Appendix 2.