Women’s shelters for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) are crucial to their recovery. However, the shelters’ operation is almost solely dependent on government funding.
This is according to a recent study conducted at Stellenbosch University (SU) by Leandri Minnie, who recently obtained her master’s degree in political science at the university.
“Because of insufficient funding and limitations on the time women can stay, these shelters find it difficult to empower women both psychologically and financially,” said Minnie.
“The only safe spaces for women in abusive relationships are in shelters,” said Prof Amanda Gouws, a professor of political science at Stellenbosch University. “To deal with domestic violence, government needs to take shelter funding seriously and increase the number of shelters.” GRAPHIC: Jessica Hillier
“You listen to the stories these women tell of how they do everything in their power to help other women but the system still somehow finds a way to prevent these women from being helped to the fullest extent,” said Minnie.
Providing safety, protecting the vulnerable
“The only safe spaces for women in abusive relationships are in shelters,” said Prof Amanda Gouws, a professor of political science at SU and the South African Research Chairs Initiative’s chair in gender politics.
“To deal with domestic violence, government needs to take shelter funding seriously and increase the number of shelters,” Gouws told MatieMedia. “Shelters for domestic violence have been underfunded by government for years.”
Prof Amanda Gouws, a professor of political science at Stellenbosch University, commended researcher Leandri Minnie for “show[ing] the difference between state-funded and non-state-funded shelters” in her study of women’s shelters and the support they provide to victims of gender-based violence. Gouws was Minnie’s supervisor. PHOTO: Jessica Hillier
Minnie said that her research showed that shelters are crucial in assisting women to “regain their self-worth and independence by giving them the opportunity to choose not to return to their abusive partner”.
“Despite all the awareness, the publicity and statistics available, our safehouse saw a drastic increase in intake, especially during this women’s month,” said Elize Smit, a social worker from Huis Jabes women’s safehouse in Cape Town. “Our house is full to the brim.”
GBV in South Africa
Prior to the recent amendment of the Domestic Violence Act, Minnie said the managers of the two women’s shelters* she focussed on in her study had to “beg” the police to remove the firearms of the abusers of these women.
“This is a real life situation. A woman can lose her life because she left,” Minnie said. “It was so disheartening to hear how hard these women work, and still face so many challenges.”
Leandri Minnie, who recently obtained her master’s degree in political science at Stellenbosch University, said that she hopes her study about women’s shelters will inspire more research and activism. She wants her study to produce tangible change, stressing the importance of moving beyond numbing people to gender-based violence statistics, and instead putting pressure on the government to amend the system, she stated. PHOTO: Supplied/Leandri Minnie
Minnie’s research was provoked by her experience of seeing news reports regarding instances of “young women being murdered by their partners” released concurrently with articles celebrating the empowerment of women taking a stance against GBV in protest marches, she said.
*Minnie told MatieMedia that these shelters were kept confidential for her study. Huis Jabes women’s safehouse in Cape Town was not involved in the study.