cc Despite studies which suggest that as many as one in two women in some parts of South Africa are affected by domestic violence, political parties in South Africa lack concrete, practical strategies to address violence against women, a debate organised by Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, Women’sNet and the department of political studies at Wits University has revealed. Party manifestos failed to adopt a multi-dimensional response to violence against women that go beyond the parameters of the criminal justice system, responses to the societal, economic and material dimensions are almost entirely absent, and no party recognises the unique circumstances and needs of marginalised groups of women who experience violence, write Lisa Vetten and Sally Shackleton.
