Views of a Group of Adults on the Drivers of and Responses to Gender-Based Violence in South Africa

Abstract

Despite the escalation of gender-based violence in South Africa, and the physical, psycho-social, and economic impact on individuals and families, there is a gap in South African policies and laws regarding the drivers of this phenomenon and the World Health model for gender-based violence omits the effectiveness of societal responses. These knowledge gaps highlighted the need to explore the views of adult South Africans regarding the drivers of and responses to gender-based violence. A qualitative approach was adopted and data were collected via WhatsApp interviews with a convenience sample of 10 adult men and women, and a purposive sample of four persons representing organisations working with gender-based violence in South Africa. Responses were analysed using thematic analysis and interpreted in accordance with the World Health Organization (2012) social-ecological framework. Main findings were that participants attributed drivers of gender-based violence to individual factors such as the need to dominate and control; relationship factors such as age differences and disparities in earnings; community/societal factors such as the legacy of Apartheid and the violence that it spawned; and cultural factors such as patriarchy, gender socialisation, and bride price. Responses to gender-based violence included self-education, family and work group discussions, community education, and training of personnel. A key contribution of the study is that it reveals how South African views on drivers of gender-based violence were strongly shaped and influenced by intra- and interpersonal factors as well as systemic historico-political, socio-economic, and socio-cultural factors. Moreover, as the World Health Organization model focuses only on drivers, the current study contributes to an expansion of the model by also focusing on responses to gender-based violence (GBV).