Influence and Policy

Despite South Africa’s commitment to gender equality and the introduction of a number of progressive legal reforms, violence against women continues to damage lives and hinder women’s ability to take a full and active role as decision makers within their families, their communities and their country.

Recent research by the Medical Research Council has shown that every 6 hours a South African woman is killed by her intimate partner. WOMANKIND’s support for this research to be more widely available has allowed our partner organisations to lobby their country’s police and government for better prevention programmes. For example, following consultation with Rape Crisis Cape Town, the South African police launched its Service Charter for Victims of Crime in March 2005. The charter is the first attempt by Government to recognize the role of the victim in the criminal Justice System and outlines and explains what happens after an offence has occurred and the minimum standards of service South Africans can expect. One of the 7 priority areas addressed by the Charter was gender violence and violence against children. Rape Crisis Cape Town is also lobbying for stronger legislation for survivors of rape under a new Sexual Offences Bill.

WOMANKIND also draws on our partners expertise to share with policy-makers in the UK and internationally. The Gender Advocacy Programme’s (GAP) work in Saldanha Bay collaborates closely with municipal government and service providers to improve domestic violence policy through better co-ordination of DV programmes, information and resources. A Task Team of stakeholders from all government departments as well as members of local commmunities and churches monitor the implementation of the Act and work together to improve its delivery across all sectors. GAP staff shared their learning with the UK government and domestic violence agencies prior to our own passing of legislation in 2004.

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