Wife battering: An exploration of the abuse of African women at two shelters in Johannesburg

Abstract

Abstract This article reports on a research project which chronicles African women's experiences of spousal violence. Fourteen abused women from two shelters (NISSA Institute for Women Development and People Opposing Women Abuse) were interviewed in 1997. The history of the African society is one in which women have been. subjected to unspeakable cruelties. Until recently, women were considered first the properties of their fathers and after marriage, the objects of their husbands. Husbands could defile their property, let it run down, get rid of it, or take care of it. However they treated it, their decisions was theirs, and theirs alone. The purpose of the investigation was to traverse abused women's educational and employment statuses, find out about the development and nature of their relationships with men who abused them, and determine why they stay in such relationships. Findings indicate that battered women are indistinguishable from other women in terms of most demographic characteristics, socio-economic status, and occupation. Secondly, most experience abuse after marriage. Furthermore, most remain in such abusive relationships because they ‘love their husbands’.