Women's Suggestions to Improve Services
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Summary
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Based on women’s use of state service providers, results suggest that existing agencies are underutilised. At the same time, many women were not satisfied with the treatment they received from various state agencies. Participants were asked what, in their opinion, could be done to offer better services to abused women. In the case of the police, social welfare, emergency rooms or clinics, district surgeons and courts, women were asked how the functioning of each could be improved.
Opinions were also canvassed about civil society initiatives to assist survivors of violence. Women were asked what generally needs to be done and whether new community-based organisations are needed to help reduce violence against women. The latter results are reported in the next section.
Responses varied according to the different types of services that women were asked to consider. Nevertheless, several key themes emerged:
- Raising awareness and providing education: State service providers require education and their attitudes towards women should be improved. The public, women in particular, men and abusers also need to be educated about women abuse.
- Protocol and efficiency: State service providers should improve their protocol and efficiency.
- Co-ordination of services: Government departments assisting survivors require better co-ordination. Multidisciplinary teams should be located at particular helping agencies or should be available to assist women.
- Counselling and shelters: More counselling services and shelters are needed and more women should be employed in helping agencies.
- Harsher punishment for abusers: Abusers should be more stringently punished by the legal system.
The police
The most common improvement that was suggested, was that the police receive further education and training (Table 22). Women referred to several aspects of police training. They felt police should be trained to understand domestic violence issues better (for example, police should not be deterred when women drop the charges they had brought against abusers). This would enable the police to deal more effectively with the issues brought to them. Some also suggested that the police should be trained in public relations so that a better rapport can be established between police officials and complainants. Several women said officials in the charge office should speak the language of clients that is typical to that area.
Another key suggestion was to provide specialised facilities and improve the protocol in police stations for treating abused women (Table 22). Specialised facilities and services for women at police stations (such as trauma units and trained counsellors to handle abuse cases) would enable police officials to work more closely with professionals from relevant fields. Participants suggested having counsellors, social workers, and a district surgeon on site.
The need for police officials to improve their attitudes towards women was also mentioned. Women felt that police officials should be less judgmental, more respectful and more gender sensitive when working with women who have experienced violence. Some suggested gender sensitivity training for the police.
Comparatively few women (5%) thought that training and employing more female police officials were necessary (Table 22). Some believed that employing more women would improve the service rendered by the police. Several participants suggested that female officials should work specifically with abused women. Others said that female officials should receive specialised training to deal with domestic violence. One woman felt very strongly about the issue and suggested radical changes such as placing women in charge of police stations.30
| Types of improvements | % |
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Better education/training
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39.4 |
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Special facilities/helpers/protocol
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20.9 |
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Attitudes of police to improve
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18.1 |
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Improve police resources
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5.1 |
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Police women trained/employed
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5 |
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Public awareness drives
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2.5 |
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Improve police efficiency/professionalism
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2.2 |
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Increase police visibility
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2.2 |
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Other
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2.2 |
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Better collaboration with community
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1.6 |
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Reduce corruption
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0.9 |
Social welfare
Women were most likely to want an extension of the range of services offered, both in quantity and in variety. This was mentioned by 20% of participants (Figure 17). Women suggested increasing the range of treatments. Specific ideas included running education programmes for men, trying to prevent and treat a wider range of problems, personalising treatments (e.g. home visits), more preventive proactive work and providing compulsory counselling for abusers. Women also wanted social welfare to care for children exposed to violence through assisting children of abused women, providing special services and places of safety for children. Women also requested an improvement in the availability of services. Some recommended 24-hour services and counselling facilities.
A further 12% of women thought that increasing the number and variety of centres and shelters is required (Figure 17). Some expressed the need for more counselling centres and shelters in particular areas. For example, several felt that new facilities should be developed in rural areas and townships. Some women simply wanted more resources generally, such as shelters, organisations, and more staff. Some believed a special unit should be set up to deal with abuse.
Another popular suggestion was that social workers receive further education to improve their ability to offer effective services (Figure 17). Women felt that social workers were not always sufficiently trained. They recommended education in the form of workshops on abuse or refresher courses on counselling skills. Some were against the policy of using volunteers for counselling and said that untrained people should not be employed by social welfare.
Improving social workers’ attitudes towards women was also mentioned. For example, participants thought staff should be more believing and show more empathy. They also felt that social workers were not always sufficiently gender sensitive and should receive training in this regard. Some women suggested improving the links between social welfare organisations and the community through public awareness programmes, advertising and improving community access to the services provided.31
Figure 17: How social welfare sevices can be improved
Emergency rooms and clinics
Women were asked how they would improve their local emergency room or clinic if they were in charge. Nearly a third (29%) said that the attitudes of medical personnel should be improved (Table 23). The second most common suggestion was to lengthen the service hours and improve the clinic environment. Participants felt that longer hours would enable better service and some requested 24-hour clinic services in their areas. Others said the environment in the emergency room or clinic should be made more welcoming and acceptable to women.32
Table 23: Suggestions for improving service at emergency clinics (n = 199)
| Types of improvements | % |
| Improve attitudes | 29.1 |
| Lengthen service hours/improve environment | 16.6 |
| Educate clinic staff regarding abuse | 15.1 |
| Multidisciplinary teams/collaborate with other disciplines | 14.6 |
| Specialised services for abused women e.g. separate room | 13.6 |
| Gender-sensitive treatment | 12.1 |
| Improve protocol and efficiency | 10.6 |
| Improve resources/working conditions | 10.1 |
| Other | 4.5 |
| Offer different programmes and types of service | 4 |
| More clinics | 2.5 |
District surgeons
Participants were most likely to suggest that district surgeons improve their attitudes towards women (Figure 18). In particular, district surgeons need to be more sympathetic and less judgmental. A quarter of women said district surgeons require better training and education in order to become more gender sensitive. They suggested that ongoing training and workshops should be offered, particularly dealing with abuse and gender issues.
Increasing service hours and the visibility of district surgeons was also frequently noted (Figure 18). Several women believed that more care should be taken in the appointment of district surgeons: some suggested appointing only female district surgeons; others suggested that victims of violence should be allowed to request a female district surgeon.33
Figure18: How the services of district surgeons can be improved
Courts
Just under half of the women surveyed requested harsher punishment in the form of longer sentences and no parole for convicted abusers (Figure 19). Some believed this would deter abusers; others felt that abusers should be removed from society by ensuring that they serve their entire prison sentence. Interestingly, participants were more concerned with harsher punishment than with the attitudes of court officials or the laborious and confusing nature of the court process. This may be because so few women in this study had first-hand experience of the court process.
The second most common suggestion was to improve the attitudes of state legal officers or workers towards survivors of abuse. Legal officers need to take he concerns of women more seriously. Participants also said that officials need to be more approachable and should provide better information to complainants about the court process.
Improving the efficiency of the legal system was mentioned by 18% of women (Figure 19). Some thought the entire judicial system needed to be changed. Others gave more specific suggestions, such as scheduling court appearances according to specific times rather than only the date of the appearance, avoiding unnecessary postponements and attending to case backlogs. Some women said the court process must be speeded up and that poor communication between prosecutors and complainants was frustrating and contributed to a poor conviction rate.
Several women proposed that court officials, in general, should be more gender sensitive (Figure 19). An equal number felt that the protocol should be improved to provide women with adequate assistance when going to court. These improvements included allowing children to go to court, hearing more evidence in camera and ensuring that the abuser is not present when the victim gives evidence. Some women asked for special courts that would deal only with women abuse cases. Procedures outlining the court process were also needed and should be accessible and precise in order to prepare women better.34
Figure 19: How courts can improve service to abused women
