Ending Gender-Based Violence : Justice and Community in South Africa

Hannah E Britton

ISBN 10: 0252084969 / ISBN 13: 9780252084966

Editore: University Of Illinois Press Apr 2020, 2020

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Neuware - 'Since the 1994 democratic elections, South Africa has been celebrated internationally for the remarkable advances of women in political office. The country continues to be near the top of global rankings for the number of women in parliament, and women are increasingly serving in local government, provincial parliaments, and educational institutions, which has inspired sweeping and progressive legislation dealing with women's advancement. Yet, despite these gains, South Africa continues to fall short, as the country is plagued by remarkably high levels of sexual assault, rape, and intimate-partner violence. This gendered violence is acted out time and again in public forums, like the trials of Jacob Zuma, the then-deputy president of the ruling party, who was accused of rape, and later Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympic track star who shot and killed his girlfriend. Hannah Britton argues that the discrepancy between women in political power and gendered violence illuminates the limitations of carceral approaches to feminism, which attempts to solve social problems like gender-based violence by arresting, prosecuting, and punishing perpetrators. Based on fieldwork conducted over twenty years in nine South African communities, Britton has identified accelerants of gender-based violence, traced how gender-based violence is part of larger social inequalities, and delineated what policies are working and what are failing. The book analyzes how street-level bureaucrats, community activists, feminist advocates, traditional leaders, and religious leaders are working to build networks to address the gender-based violence in their communities. She finds several key characteristics that enable communities to engage with anti-gender violence politics: police, as leaders and partners; people, as individual leaders who will break with patriarchal norms; points of contact, which provide victim services; and place, or the proximity to these services. These characteristics illustrate that the ultimate success or failure of the movement to end gender-based violence starts with communities'.

Codice articolo 9780252084966

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Ending Gender-Based Violence : Justice and Community in South Africa
• Editore: University Of Illinois Press Apr 2020
• Data di pubblicazione: 2020
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0252084969
• ISBN 13: 9780252084966
• Rilegatura: Taschenbuch
• Condizione: Neu
• Dimensioni: 229 L x 152 A x 18 P (millimetri) 229 millimetri di larghezza per 152 millimetri di altezza per 18 millimetri di profondità
• Peso: 340 grammi

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

South African women's still-increasing presence in local, provincial, and national institutions has inspired sweeping legislation aimed at advancing women's rights and opportunity. Yet the country remains plagued by sexual assault, rape, and intimate partner violence.

Hannah E. Britton examines the reasons gendered violence persists in relationship to social inequalities even after women assume political power. Venturing into South African communities, Britton invites service providers, religious and traditional leaders, police officers, and medical professionals to address gender-based violence in their own words. Britton finds the recent turn toward carceral solutions—with a focus on arrests and prosecutions—fails to address the complexities of the problem and looks at how changing specific community dynamics can defuse interpersonal violence. She also examines how place and space affect the implementation of policy and suggests practical ways policymakers can support street level workers.

Clear-eyed and revealing, Ending Gender-Based Violence

offers needed tools for breaking cycles of brutality and inequality around the world.

Informazioni sull?autore

Hannah E. Britton is a professor of political science and women, gender, and sexuality studies at the University of Kansas. She is the author of Women in the South African Parliament: From Resistance to Governance  and co-editor of Women's Activism in South Africa: Working across Divides.