Gender-based Violence in Rural South Africa: Introducing the AmaZizi Chiefdom of Eastern Cape

Abstract

This research surveys the prevalence of gender-based violence (GBV) and its relationship to gendered roles and gendered expectations in the rural AmaZizi chiefdom in Eastern Cape, South Africa. The authors used community-based participatory research, mixing quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative data were gathered via questionnaires distributed to 300 households in collaboration with a local research team, trained on the specifics of this project and study procedures. Data were supplemented with information collected from five focus groups and 40 additional one-on-one interviews. Based on this research, the authors uncovered a traditional patriarchal system in the chiefdom that not only gives men control over the lives and sexuality of women in the region, but is also used to justify the violence. This shows that future efforts to combat GBV in the chiefdom should address the authoritarian definition of masculinity that currently frames the gender roles and expectations in the region.