Effective ways of fighting GBV needed in SA
Experts on violence prevention say curbing gender based-violence in South Africa remains a challenge.
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum was held in Stellenbosch this week.
Director of the Gender Health Unit at the South African Medical Research Council, Rachel Jewkes says the conference has re-affirmed the commitment of policymakers and NGOs to come up with effective interventions.
''When teachers beat children in classrooms they contribute towards promoting an idea that it's acceptable and appropriate if you want to use power over another person to use violence.
''That actually feeds in to the whole problem that later might get manifested in intimate partner violence and at its most extreme form can result in death,'' he said.
According to NGO, Gender Links' Violence Against Women Baseline Study, 36% of women in KwaZulu Natal say they have been subjected to some form of emotional, economic, physical or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime both within and outside their intimate relationships.
In the province, 41% of men admitted to perpetrating violence against women in their lifetime.
(File photo: Getty Images)