• 1 in every 4 South African women or 25% of women in RSA are assaulted by their boyfriend or husband every week.
  (UN Children's Emergency Fund as quoted in YOU Magazine 26/01/95 )

• 43% of 159 women surveyed had experienced battering and marital rape.
  ([on Shelf] Promoting Personal Safety For Women. Women set an agenda for policy formation. Moira Maconachie & Mikki van Zyl. Human Sciences Research Council © 1994.The Sample size for this research project included 159 women living in the Cape Town Metropolitan area. The sample population was not randomly chosen but was carefully selected to include a wide range of women and social service providers. Pg.61)

• 1 in 5 women is battered by her partner.
  ([on Shelf] Promoting Personal Safety For Women. Women set an agenda for policy formation. Moira Maconachie & Mikki van Zyl. Human Sciences Research Council © 1994; NICRO based on studies done in Cape Town)

• A study of 600 pregnant and non-pregnant teenage girls in Cape Town, 60% respondents said they had been beaten by their partner.
  (Cape Argus Jan. 7, 1998).

• The average woman stays in an abusive relationship for 10.5 years before leaving.
  (Rape Crisis Shelter Statistics, 1988).

• In S. Africa 1 in every 5 women is abused by her husband or partner.
  (450.7/1017(1) May 13-14, 1996. Jay Watson, The Institute for Multi-Party Democracy and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies hosted workshops in Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu, Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape on Domestic Violence and the Transformation of the Legal System and the Police Force. The Information is based on proceedings from a workshop held by the Western Cape Network on Violence Against Women Pg. 1)

• A woman suffers being battered an average of 39 times before she eventually seeks outside help.
  (460.05/1026 Burman, Katz and Partners, Port Elizabeth, paper entitled: Prevention of Family Violence Act 133/1993 Sept. 1994, pg. 2)

• Prevalence of domestic violence against women was found to be 38.3% of which 65.2%, or 1 in 4, was perpetrated by the husband.
  (The Prevalence and Related Factors of Domestic Violence Against Women in the Mamre Community. Epidemiology Project. Sept. 1996. Rein GE, Le Roux DM, Jaschinski J, Haines Pt, Barnes DR. Pg. 7)

• 1 in 3 women in S. Africa will be raped.
  (450.7/1017(1) Binaifer Nowrojee and Bronwen Manby, May 13-14, 1996 as cited by Jay Watson, The Institute for Multi-Party Democracy an the Joint Centre for Political and Economic Studies hosted workshops in Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu, Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape on Domestic Violence and the Transformation of the Legal System and the Police Force. The Information is based on proceedings from the Western Cape regional workshop. Pg.17)

• 1 in 2 South African women will be raped in her lifetime.
  (Study by Lloyd Vogelman of the University of the Witwatersrand from the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation as cited in the Cape Times, Oct. 24, 1991)

• 30% of females were forced to have sex the first time they had intercourse.
  (Study in Khayelitsha by the Medical Research Council, as cited in the Cape Argus, Jan. 7, 1998)

• According to one police estimate, only 1 in 35 rapes is reported. Based on this 1,217,405 rapes would have occurred in 1995, at a rate of 3,335 rapes per day or 139 per hour or 2.3 per minute.

• 1 out of every 25 women who are raped report it to the police.
  ([on Shelf] Rape Crisis and NICRO estimate as cited in Promoting Personal Safety For Women. Women set an agenda for policy formation. Moira Maconachie & Mikki van Zyl. Human Sciences Research Council © 1994; Pg. 57)

• In 1993 27,056 rapes reported only 8,998 were prosecuted and only 4, 753 resulted in convictions or 17. 5%.
  (450.7/1543 (1) Aug. 1997. Human Rights Watch)

• Between 1993 and 1996 the number of rapes reported has doubled to 50, 481 but with 21,863 prosecuted only 4,100 convicted or 8.1%.
  (450.7/1543 (1) Aug. 1997. Human Rights Watch)

• The average age of girls who are sexually abused is 11 year of age.
  (Lloyd Vogelman, Director of the Project of Violence in the Psychology Department, University of Witwatersrand, and author of Sexual Abuse and Incest in S. A. , Raven Publisher as quoted in the Weekly Mail. Jan. 26 to Feb. 1, 1990,)

• Of the women who sought help from the police, only 4% said they would ask them for help again.
  (450.7/1016 Study by van Zyl in 1988, as cited in Battered Women. An Invisible Issue by K. Ross, pg. 12)

• 57% of women who reported sexual violence never laid a charge because the police refused to let them.
  (450.7/1559. Improved Justice for Survivors of Sexual Violence: Adult Survivors' Experiences of the Wynberg Sexual Offences Court and Associated Services by Sharon Stanton, Margot Lochrenberg, Veronica Mukasa, Rape Crisis Cape Town: African Gender Institute: University of Cape Town: Human Rights Commission,'89-91)

• 36% of assault charges laid by women get "lost" and there is no further action.
  (NICRO as cited in a newspaper article, no date available)

• 59% of Murder cases at the Wynberg Magistrate's Court involved men accused of killing their wives.
  (Ms. Lauren Nott, NICRO as quoted in the Cape Argus, Sept. 19, 1989)

• 41% of all female homicide is perpetrated by the women's partner.
  (450.7/1017(1)According to Binaifer Nowrojee and Bronwen Manby May 13-14, 1996 as mentioned by Jay Watson, The Institute for Multi-Party Democracy and the Joint Centre for Political and Economic Studies hosted workshops in Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu, Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape on Domestic Violence and the Transformation of the Legal System and the Police Force. The Information is based on proceedings from the Western Cape regional workshop.. Pg.17)

• 2/3 of African Women who are employed earn less then R500 (50 pounds) per month.
  (450.311. Domestic Violence: Submission to the SALC in the Light of International and Constitutional Human Rights Jurisprudence Part 1, May 1997)

• In rural areas, 4 out of 5 South African woman have no employment at all.
  (450.311. Domestic Violence: Submission to the SALC in the Light of International and Constitutional Human Rights Jurisprudence Part 1, Pg. 3, May 1997)

An International View

• At least 7 out of every 100 married women or women in common-law relationships in Canada are physically assaulted by their mates.
  (460.9/1106 Ottawa Canadian Advisory Committee on the Status of Women, Jan., 1980; Michael Smith, "Woman Abuse in Toronto: Incidence, Prevalence and Demographic Risk Markers," Dept. Of Sociology, York University, North York, Ontario, April 1988 as cited in Linda McLeod's, Wife Battering in Canada: The Vicious Circle Pg. 6)

• 1 in 5 Canadian women will be sexually assaulted in her life.
  (460.9/1106 INT. J. Of Women's Studies 195 as cited in Incidence of Rape and Sexual Assault in an Urban Canadian Population by Brickman, J. and J. Briere, 1985 pg.7)

• In the UK, 12 out of every 100 women are physically abused.
  (ELLE Magazine, November 1993)

• In the UK, 25% of all reported assaults are by men on their female partners.
  (ELLE Magazine, November 1993)

• In the UK, 45,000 marriages are ended annually as a result of the husband's violence.
  (ELLE Magazine, November 1993)

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