More than twenty years into democracy acts of violence against women have not visibly decreased in South Africa. This publication unpacks the many inter-related factors that continuously contribute to high levels of violence against women and hopes to contribute to more strategic and collaborative action.
With this edition of Perspectives, the Heinrich Böll Foundation seeks to unpack some of the underlying tensions and challenges facing the promotion of sexual and reproductive rights on Africa.
This publication documents an exchange project undertaken by the India and South Africa offices of the Heinrich Böll Foundation on sexual violence between 2013 and 2015. The project sought to analyse and raise debates on what drives and sustains sexual violence against women in these two countries and to determine whether strategies to prevent and redress this are working. A documentary based on the project is also available for viewing.
This report is a follow-up to the preliminary report produced by the Women’s Trust (TWT) and the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) in early 2014 on the effectiveness of the SiMuka! Zimbabwe, Woman, Get Counted! Register to Vote! in getting women to register to vote and to vote. This report goes further to note that whilst it is encouraging to see women turn out to vote in elections, and even more gratifying to see that the turn out can be strongly increased by woman to woman advocacy, there is always need to conduct a reality check on the actual process of the election and its outcome. This report investigates whether what happened before, during and after the elections affects women’s views of the elections and whether this differs for women in urban areas as for women in rural areas.
This review of the national budget for 2014, as delivered by finance minister Pravin Gordhan on 26 February 2014, gauges the extent to which government invests in what it has identified as priorities for the country and assesses the impact of government spending choices for the 2014/15 financial on women.
This booklet aims to help parents, families and friends of young lesbians to better understand and overcome their fears and prejudices so that they can give them the respect, love and support they need and deserve.
This book is not just about lesbians and transgender people. More than a collection of their life stories—it is a recollection of the stories of their lives; revelations of bravery; strength and poise; a tale of survival in the complex and constant struggle between the normalcy of life and the distinctiveness of self.
This issue of Perspectives provides insight into country-specific challenges and controversies with regards to women’s access to justice in selected sub-Saharan African states.
This report sets out the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act and assesses whether problems with the implementation of this legislation are still being faced by profiling the experiences of 151 people applying for protection orders at nine courts in Johannesburg and East Rand and seeking assistance from the police on domestic violence matters.
This issue discusses the diverse challenges women from across the continent face in terms of their land rights. It substantiates the need for interventions that reach beyond the provision of legal access to land rights if the aim of women’s economic empowerment is to be realised.
