Violence against women, kids a ‘crisis’

TWO out of three voters believe that violence against women and children has reached crisis level and is worse in South Africa than it is in other countries.

Respondents were asked their opinion on the statement: “Some people say violence against women and children in South Africa is a crisis. Other people say the situation is no different from those problems women and children experience in most countries.”

The majority (67%) said the situation was both critical and particular to South Africa.

Another 21% said they agreed with the statement: “The situation is no different from those problems women and children experience in most countries,” and 12% responded “do not know”.

There was a significant difference of almost 20% between supporters of the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters on the issue, although in both groups the majority agreed the situation was a crisis. Of the DA voters, 74% agreed with the description compared with 57% of EFF voters. Of ANC voters, 65% agreed.

By race, coloured voters were most likely to see the violence issue as a crisis (80%), followed by Indian voters (77%), white voters (72%) and black voters (64%).

There was no significant difference on the subject when the results were broken down by gender, with 65% of men and 69% of women agreeing the situation was at crisis level.

Among men, 22% felt the situation was typical of the levels of violence experienced in other countries and 13% replied “do not know” or did not respond. Among women the figures were 20% and 11% respectively.