Women’s rights

South Africa, like many African countries, is very much a patriarchal society in which many think it acceptable to subjugate their wife or partner to a multitude of abuses. Sexual, physical, emotional and psychological abuses all exist within marriage and between partners, with 1 in 3 women claiming they have been raped. Prostitution is also a huge problem, with many women and underage girls using it as a source of employment as they see no other way out of the lives of poverty they have found themselves in. Such abuses are so deep-rooted in society that security forces often have little regard to many women’s complaints. A major task that must be performed is the education and empowerment of women to act on their human rights and interns can carry out this task in schools, women’s shelters or just in the communities which are strongly affected.

One of PAHRO’s longest running projects is the program we run at St Anne’s women’s shelter – Click here to find out more.