Women most often sought help from family, friends and medical personnel (Figure 14). The supportive role that family and friends play for victims of crime in general has been documented in other victimisation studies.21 A major difference in the case of violence against women is the prominent role that medical personnel play in assisting survivors. An equal number of women sought the services of doctors and nurses – the most popular formal service providers – as did those who turned to family and friends. This suggests that the medical sector may be a key in the development of initiatives to reach and benefit abused women.

Just under a third of the women (30%) had been to the police despite the fact that 89% felt that what was done to them was a crime. This level of underreporting of abuse is typical of gendered violence.22 Previous studies have also found that many attacks on women in South Africa remain unreported.23 Naturally, the low number of women reporting incidents to the police influences the extent to which further legal processes can take place. As few as 9% of participants had been seen by a district surgeon and 13% sought legal assistance. Only seven women said their case went to trial.24

With the exception of religious leaders, comparatively few women sought help from less formal service providers such as community organisations, student representative councils, unions or women’s groups. Significantly, however, the services of religious bodies were sought as often as those of lawyers, psychologists and counsellors.

Some differences were recorded in the types of service providers chosen by survivors of domestic and non-domestic abuse. The assistance of formal agencies such as medical personnel, the police and district surgeons, were more often sought by women reporting non-domestic abuse as the most serious (Table 16). Informal sources of assistance — friends, family and religious bodies — were the more likely choice for domestic abuse survivors. This trend perpetuates the tendency for domestic violence to remain hidden, since victims are less likely to go to formal agencies after these incidents than are victims of non-domestic abuse. This is also probably linked to the lack of recognition of domestic abuse as a crime in the law (abuse is still regarded as assault).

Women sought the services of medical personnel as a result of sexual and physical abuse: 47% had experienced sexual abuse and 53% reported physical abuse. (*However, not all of the experiences described by respondents can be applied to current service providers, since nearly half of the women (48%) said the incident in question happened more than five years ago. Only the views of those respondents who were treated in the past five years are presented in order to reflect the current situation more accurately)

Women were most likely to have reached the hospital, clinic or doctor’s rooms alone (45%) or with friends and relatives (35%). A few (10%) went with the abuser or with someone from a victim support agency (6%). Two women had been taken to hospital in an ambulance, indicating the severity of their injuries.

Most women (86%) were not able to receive medical assistance within an hour of the most serious incident. Nearly half (44%) waited over an hour and a third (36%) waited from one day to one week for medical attention. (A further 6% were examined after a week had passed.) This means that only 14% went for treatment within the hour.

Medical personnel, however, cannot be held responsible for the majority of these delays: only 11% of women said the hold-up was due to a delay in the doctor’s arrival or a doctor not being available (Figure 15). The majority of women (53%) were treated more than an hour after the incident occurred due to:

Figure 15: Reasons for not receiving medical attention
within an hour of the incident

In almost all cases, medical personnel inquired about the cause of the violence and women provided them with accurate information. This highlights the potentially important role of medical personnel in collecting information about cases of violence against women.

Doctors or nurses asked 94% of women about the incident and, in particular, who had perpetrated the abuse. Those women who were not asked, did not volunteer information about the incident. Most women (91.5%) said they told doctors the truth about the abuse. Of the four women who did not tell the truth, three indicated that the presence of the abuser forced them to lie. Some of the false reasons given by these four women for their injuries were that they had accidentally hurt themselves or that they had been mugged.

Women were generally positive about the manner in which inquiries were made and questions were asked by doctors about their injuries. They felt they were believed when they described the abuse. The majority (86.5%) were given some advice from doctors or nurses about how to deal with the problem. Almost all women (91%) were satisfied with their treatment. Of those who were not satisfied, one said the medical examination was long and insensitive; another indicated that staff were disbelieving, unco-operative and gender insensitive.

Thirty per cent of women reported the worst incident of abuse to the police. Half of these women (49%) had experienced sexual abuse and almost as many (46%) had experienced physical abuse. Most of those (57%) who reported the abuse to the police said the incident occurred in the past five years.25

Most of the incidents of sexual and physical abuse were reported by victims themselves at the charge office in the police station: 73% of cases were reported to police by the woman in question — the remaining 27% were reported by someone else. This emphasises the importance of having properly trained and effective police officials at station level to deal with victims of violence. More than two-thirds (71%) of women went to the station; the remainder reported the incident over the telephone.

In most cases (82%), the police official who took the statement was a male. The majority of women (72%) who dealt with male officials would have preferred a female taking their statement.

General satisfaction with police

Women were asked how satisfied they were with the police when reporting the abuse. Questions covered whether they felt comfortable with the police, whether the police made them feel understood and whether the police believed what they were told.

Most of the 41 women responding to these questions were positive about the way police dealt with them: most women thought the police believed them and almost two thirds felt the police understood their problem (Table 17). The majority said the police were willing to help and that they felt comfortable in the presence of these officials.

Protocol, rights and legal options

Despite positive responses to specific areas of police intervention, only a minority of women who reported abuse to the police were ‘generally satisfied’ with the treatment they received (Table 17). The reason behind these contradictory views might be that the most basic services that ought to be provided by the police, were rarely made available. Thus, although the general attitude of police officials towards survivors of violence appears satisfactory, the same cannot be said of their effectiveness with regard to standard police work.

Women were asked a range of questions about standard police protocol, as well as whether they were informed of their rights and their legal options in cases of domestic violence and sexual assault. Table 18 below indicates that, in many cases, standard procedures and ‘best’ procedures were not followed. The survey did not investigate the reasons for this lack of service. In some instances, the failure to take photographs, assist women in a private room and transport them to a district surgeon may have been due to a lack of resources and infrastructure at the police station, rather than an unwillingness on the part of officials to help.

When it came to informing women of their rights when making a statement, the police performed poorly (Table 19).

Poor perceptions of the police, in general, are probably also associated with the manner in which abuse cases are dealt with. Nearly half of the 39 cases (whose outcomes participants were prepared to discuss) were not resolved: in three cases, the perpetrator was not arrested; in seven, a case was opened but there had been no progress; and in the remaining nine, no prosecutions had resulted. Six cases were withdrawn. In eight of the remaining cases, the perpetrator was arrested; and in three, perpetrators received fines or warnings. Only two of the 39 cases went to trial.

Of the 81 women who reported their abuse to the police, only 30% went on to see a district surgeon.26 This means that a district surgeon had seen only 9% of the 269 women who participated in the study. It is likely that more women were seen by district surgeons than the numbers reflected here: participants only described their experiences with service providers in relation to the worst incident of abuse, and could have gone to a district surgeon for other cases of abuse not discussed in the interview. Another factor accounting for the low numbers is that some women were unsure if the doctor they had seen was a district surgeon or not.

Seventeen of the 24 women who sought the services of a district surgeon for the worst incident of abuse, had been sexually abused; the rest had experienced physical abuse. Of these women, only eleven had been to a district surgeon in the last five years.27

Of the eight women who did respond, six were seen within four hours of the incident happening. One was seen within 24 hours and the other after several days. Four of the eight women were taken to the district surgeon by the police; in two cases the district surgeon came to the women for the examination and in one case the victim reached the doctor on her own. Only four of the eight women were told why they had to be examined by a district surgeon.

Most of the examinations (five out of eight) took place in a hospital; two in the doctor’s rooms and one ‘elsewhere’. All eight women reported that the district surgeon was a male.

Asked about whether several standard procedures were followed, all eight women said they were alone with the doctor when the examination took place. Three out of six women said the district surgeon had completed the J88 form;28 the remaining three were unsure. Four out of seven received treatment for STDs and to prevent pregnancy. All eight women who were seen by a district surgeon said they were given advice by the doctor.

Seven of the eleven women who were examined in the past five years were satisfied with the treatment they received, saying it was ‘good medical treatment’; that the district surgeons had treated them with understanding and given them medicine. One women said the examination had been rushed, which led her to believe that the procedure was not thorough. Another complained that the doctor gave her insufficient information about the procedure and about what to expect afterwards. One found the experience insensitive, humiliating and disliked having to repeat the details about the incident of abuse.

Legal services

Only 13% of the women in the study sought legal advice after the incident of abuse that they considered most serious. Of the 81 women who had been to the police, only 32% (25 women) went on to a legal advisor. Legal assistance was sought mainly after physical abuse (49% of women who visited legal services had been physically abused) and sexual abuse (43%). Two women received legal assistance after an incident of emotional abuse.

Of the women who had consulted legal advisors, only nineteen had done so in the last five years.29 Of the nineteen women, nine had been to a private lawyer and nine to legal aid. Although half of the women had been to private lawyers, fifteen said they received free legal counselling. The remaining four women paid themselves or were assisted by family members who paid on their behalf.

Outcomes and court experience

Twelve women were informed about the interdict.

Seven were informed about the peace order.

Nine were told about the option of divorce.

Ten were told about the option of child maintenance.

Eight were informed of other legal alternatives.

Key findings about legal services: Only 13% of women in the study sought legal advice after the incident of abuse that they considered the most serious. Fifteen of the nineteen women who sought legal advice in the past five years received free services even though half went to private lawyers. Most of the nineteen women were provided with the standard information about their legal alternatives.

Counselling services

When seeking some form of counselling, most women (80%) turned to friends and family. Other than these sources of assistance, women most often turned to social workers (21%), religious bodies or representatives (13%), counsellors (12%), psychologists (11%) and psychiatrists (9%).

Women sought the help of different types of counsellors according to the type of abuse they considered most serious. Not surprisingly, counselling was sought for those types of abuse that had an important emotional component:

Social workers: Women were most likely to visit social workers after incidents of physical abuse. Eighteen per cent of the women who went to social workers sought assistance after being sexually abused.



Counsellors: Women who identified incidents related to sexual abuse (34%) most commonly used the services of counsellors.



Psychologists: Women visiting psychologists were most likely to have identified emotional abuse and emotional/sexual abuse as their worst cases of abuse.



Psychiatrists: Of the 24 women who sought the services of a psychiatrist, the most common types of abuse experienced were emotional/physical (33%) and emotional/sexual abuse (25%).

over one-third (37%) had been a few times;

17% had been for a few months to a year;

13% went to counselling for over a year; and

16% were still in counselling at the time of the interview.

Figure 16: comments about the service
received from trained counsellors

Table 21: Why women stopped going to counselling after a specified period of time

	Duration of time spent at counselling
Reason for stopping	Once	Few times	Months	> 1 year	Total
No longer required	6	15	11	8	40
Counsellor/client relocated	1	6	2	4	13
Counsellor not understanding/liked	4	6	1	1	12
Not useful	4	6	0	1	11
Family/partner not supportive	3	2	0	0	5
Fees too high/couldn't pay	0	4	0	1	5
Total	18	39	14	14	86

Religious persons

Friends and family

Why counselling was discontinued

Key findings about the service received from counsellors: 80% of women sought assistance from friends and family for the worst incident of abuse. 53% had been to formal counselling, including social workers, counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists. 63% of women who were treated by trained counsellors did not have to pay for these services. Cost is an important factor, since most women (82%) went to trained counsellors on more than one occasion. 82% of women were satisfied with the treatment they received from trained counsellors. The most common reason given by women for discontinuing counselling was that it was no longer required.