Safety at home

Most women (59%) felt safe in their own homes (Table 25). A significant proportion, however, felt unsafe and almost as many were unsure. Furthermore, although most participants felt safe at home, only 37% said this was always the case.

When asked what would make them feel safer at home, most women (68%) wanted better personal security in the form of self-defence skills or simply the company of others while at home. Almost a quarter (22%) said the removal of the abuser would make them feel safer in their own homes.37 Some women said abusers should be arrested, while others simply said they would feel safe if the abuser ‘was not there’ (with no mention being made of the abuser’s arrest). Others thought that staying at home, living alone or moving away from the abuser would make them feel safer. Several women said that if the abuser stopped abusing them, they would feel safer at home. These women, therefore, did not want the abuser to be removed or arrested, but simply that the abuse should be stopped.

The option of ‘removing the abuser’ as a way of making women feel safer at home needs careful consideration. There are a range of subtle differences in the options proposed by women. Each woman’s situation determines what is meant by ‘removal’ – some want his or her arrest, some want to move, some simply want the abuse to stop. Each case should be considered individually when determining what will make women feel safer.
Safety at work

The vast majority of women (78%) felt safe at work. More women felt safer here than in their homes or in public places (Table 25). In contrast to perceptions of safety in the home, the majority of women said they always felt safe at work.

Feelings of safety at work, like safety at home, could be enhanced by improving personal security: 68% of participants said this would make them feel safer at work. Women usually recommended better security systems, as well as training in order to protect themselves. Some identified security equipment, security guards and firearms for self-defence as key to their safety at work. Security devices such as safety gates, burglar guards and bulletproof windows were also mentioned. Several women expressed a desire to learn self-defence.

Improvements to the criminal justice system were mentioned by 17% of women and 8% said the absence of the abuser would help. Only 4% thought better staff relations would make them feel safer at work.

Some participants said better community support was needed in the form of raised public awareness, shared responsibility for other’s safety, and spending time with people who are known and trusted. Even having other people around at the workplace, in the neighbourhood or at home, was thought to make women feel safer.

Safety in public places

Only 40% of women said they felt safe in public places (Table 25) and of these, only one-quarter said they always felt safe.

For most women (68%), improving on these very low levels of safety could be achieved through enhancing the criminal justice system and reducing crime levels.38 Many commented that a more visible police presence and a more efficient police service would help them feel secure. Some said that more security guards would make a difference. For other women, demands were greater: a general decrease in crime rates, the arrest of all criminals and an end to the sound of gunfire. The need for more stringent laws was also mentioned. The government is thus seen as having the prime responsibility for making public areas safer for women.

A comparison of the responses thus far shows that women were more likely to feel unsafe in public places than in private places (Figure 20). More women felt unsafe walking in their neighbourhoods (at night) and in public places, than at home and at work. It is significant, however, that more women felt unsafe at home than they did while walking in their areas during the day or while at work.

These findings are confirmed by a later question that asked them to identify any place in which they felt the most unsafe (Figure 21).

The vast majority said they felt most insecure in public areas. However, the home environment was identified by many women as the most unsafe place for them to be. Together, 20.5% of women said their own home or someone else’s home was the most unsafe (Figure 21). It is significant that women feel as vulnerable in the home – often the place they least expect to experience violence – as they do in public places such as transport facilities and on the streets.

What women fear the most about crime

Women were asked what two things they fear the most about crime. Participants most often said they feared sexual assault (49%). Almost as many women said they feared loss of life (47%). When asked what crimes they feared in particular, the most common response was housebreaking (28%) followed closely by rape (26%). These fears reflect a concern about crimes that have the most serious impact on people’s lives (such as murder and rape), as well as those most likely to happen (such as housebreaking).

Perceptions of the police

Women felt the most unsafe in public places and their solutions to these fears were largely expressed in terms of better policing and more effective criminal justice. It is useful to consider participants’ perceptions of the police as a determinant of anxiety about crime and violence. The data shows that most women have little faith in the ability of their local police to reduce crime. Participants were also more critical of police performance than were victims of crime generally. Nevertheless, despite being less satisfied, participants cited similar reasons for their negative views of the police as did victims of crime in general.

The majority of women (70%) did not believe the police were doing a good job at controlling crime in their neighbourhoods. Eighteen per cent felt the police were doing a good job and 12% were unsure.

The women in this study were less likely to have confidence in the ability of the police than were both men and women, victims and non-victims, surveyed in separate studies in the country as a whole, and in the metropolitan areas. In Pretoria, for example, only 29% of the population had confidence in the performance of the police. This proportion decreased slightly among women generally, and among those who had been victimised: 25% of women in Pretoria and 25% of crime victims (female and male) thought the police were doing a good job.39 In South Africa as a whole, 38% of people were satisfied with police performance.40

Of the 18% of women in this study who were satisfied with police performance, most (89%) explained that the police offered a good service or said they had been well treated by the police. The remaining 10% said that the police were doing what they could despite being poorly managed and having too few resources.

Among those who were critical of police performance, the most likely reason for this view was that the police are inefficient or ineffective (45% said this was the case). A third (33%) said the police have too few resources and are badly managed (Figure 22). Only 10% of women said the police are corrupt.

These perceptions are similar to those recorded in other crime surveys in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban. People in these metropolitan areas were most likely to cite the ineffectiveness of the police in fulfilling their ordinary duties as reasons for their poor performance. Less than 10% of participants in the city surveys said corruption was a problem, except in Johannesburg where 20% of people thought police corruption was behind their poor performance.41

How government can improve women’s safety

The ineffectiveness of the police and the criminal justice system was raised repeatedly by women in the survey. When asked what they thought the government could do to make their areas safer for women, the most common suggestions included improving police effectiveness (50%) and increasing the stringency of laws (20%). A further 5% said that the criminal justice system needed improvement. Altogether 74% of women believed that better law enforcement and justice were the most important roles for the government in improving the safety of women.

Some suggestions for improving law enforcement and criminal justice included:

improve the training and visibility of police;


police should attend to calls promptly;


the attitude of police must change;


more police should be deployed in areas that they currently neglect;


gangsterism must be curtailed;


abusers should be arrested;


all guns should be confiscated;


offenders should be castrated or given life sentences; and


laws that generally relate to violence against women should be harsher.

The government’s role in providing public education regarding abuse was noted by only 8% of participants (Figure 23). While the need to raise awareness is mentioned throughout the survey, this ranks low on the scale of responsibilities most urgently required of the government. Those that mentioned public education said that the public, in general, as well as service providers, in particular, should be educated about the rights of women. They also suggested that the government should sponsor programmes to raise awareness among the youth.42

How women’s safety can be improved at community level

Women were asked a range of questions about what could be done at community level to improve the safety of women, in general, and to reduce the incidence of women abuse, in particular. Questions included:

What could be done in your community about woman abuse?



If you were directing a women’s/neighbourhood group, what would you recommend to reduce woman abuse or to assist other women suffering from abuse?



If you were in charge of community services, what new organisations would need to be set up to assist in the prevention and treatment of women abuse?

Recommendations with regard to all three questions covered similar themes, suggesting some consensus on the issue. Suggestions centred, firstly, on educating and raising awareness among the public and abusers and, secondly, on providing better facilities for abused women, especially in the form of counselling services and shelters. A few participants mentioned the need for greater activism and empowerment of women, as well as better law enforcement and justice.

Education of the public and of abusers

The most common suggestion was to educate the public, as well as abusers. Education was seen by 45% of women as a tool for ‘re-socialising’ community members into non-violent behaviour and as a means of raising awareness about violence against women (Figure 24). The need to raise children in non-violent ways was mentioned.

In several cases, the need to educate women particularly was noted, through providing safety tips, for example. It was also suggested that women themselves should speak out about abuse. Of interest is that hardly any participants (1%) said they would recommend counselling for abusers if they were running a community-based women’s group (Figure 25).

Providing facilities for abused women

After raising awareness, the second most common suggestion for improving safety at community level was the provision of centres and offices to victims of abuse with essential services (Figure 24). These could include shelters and special units to deal with abuse. In addition, increased government funding for the local police, social welfare and crisis centres was also mentioned. Related to the need for better facilities was the need expressed by 12% of women to raise awareness about what facilities and services are currently available (Figure 25). Better advertising was mentioned.

When asked what they would recommend if they were directing a women’s group, many participants also mentioned providing more counselling services and shelters (Figure 25). Specific issues included extending the hours of service and the number of facilities. Some women said more support groups were required, as well as more safe houses for women wanting to escape violence at home. Several said that women should begin to help themselves and that women who had been abused, should help each other.

Shelters for women and children, counselling centres and centres for providing skills and education were also the most common types of new organisations that women thought were needed in their areas (Table 26).

The following comments were made about the kinds of shelters that are required:

The viability of existing shelters should be assessed to determine whether they serve the needs of women.



Children are also in need of temporary placements when they are separated from their parents.

The following comments were made about the kinds of counselling centres required:

More centrally situated counselling centres for victims of violence in general, should be established.


Centres should be located near police stations.


Special trauma centres should be set up.


Centres that cater for abusers should be set up.


Centres should be staffed by women.


Committees should be formed and run by trained community members.


Alternative places should be available to report abuse other than police stations.


Legal offices for women should be established.

The need for education and skills training centres was mentioned as frequently as the need for counselling centres. These centres could:

focus specifically on women: government funded organisations to accommodate and train women were mentioned;



provide defence classes for women and children;



provide information to members of the broader community, such as church leaders and children; and



help women to acquire skills and employment opportunities.

Activism and empowerment of women

A few women said that community-level action should include female activism and the empowerment of women (Figure 24). A similar percentage said they would recommend this type of action if they were running a women’s group in their neighbourhood (Figure 25). Some women explained that achieving this would require that women take a united stand against crime and violence.43

Better law enforcement and justice

Altogether 13% of women thought that community-level action should focus on promoting more effective criminal justice for abused women (Figure 24). Many defined this in terms of more stringent laws, commenting that abusers should be arrested and prosecuted on their first offence. Some requested more radical forms of sentencing such as castrating abusers and even stoning abusers to death. Other participants mentioned improvements to the police and justice system. A few women (1%) called for punishment to be meted out by the community.44

What women could do personally to improve safety

Women were asked what they could do about woman abuse in their areas. Most (58%) said they could provide support and counselling for survivors (Table 27). This could take the form of advising, empowering and providing information to women who experienced violence, as well as to women, in general. Some participants were already involved in campaigning or counselling.

Other suggestions included becoming involved in helping structures and raising awareness about abuse (Table 27). Women said they could help organise support groups or participate in existing community organisations. Some thought they could speak to women in general about abuse. Others felt they could educate children about the dangers of abuse or teach young boys about women’s rights. A few women said they could offer religious education. Several said that by encouraging the reporting of abuse or reporting incidents themselves, they could help raise awareness.45