Johannesburg, November 29, 2025
Gender-based violence (GBV) remains one of South Africa’s most severe human rights violations, affecting millions of people across all genders, ages, and communities.
According to the Human Sciences Research Council’s First South African National Gender-Based Violence Study released in 2024, 35.8% of women in South Africa have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. An estimated 33.1% of women aged 18 and older — approximately 7.3 million women — have experienced physical violence at some point in their lives.
South African Police Service crime statistics for July–September 2024 recorded 957 women murdered, 1,567 women as victims of attempted murder, 14,366 women assaulted with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and 10,191 reported rapes of women and girls. In the same quarter the previous year, 10,516 rapes, 1,514 attempted murders of women, and 14,401 serious assaults on women were recorded.
The South African Medical Research Council reported a femicide rate of 5.5 women killed by intimate partners per 100,000 female population between 2020 and 2021. Overall, 51% of South African women have experienced some form of gender-based violence in their lifetime.
Women with disabilities face higher risks: 16.3% report lifetime economic abuse and 60% experience controlling behaviours, compared to 12.8% and 57.4% respectively among women without disabilities.
Men are also victims of gender-based violence, although underreporting is widespread due to stigma and societal expectations of masculinity. A study in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape found that 9.6% of men reported having experienced sexual victimisation by another man. Research across Southern Africa, including South Africa, confirms that men experience physical, emotional, and sexual intimate partner violence.
Men and boys with physical or intellectual disabilities in institutional settings are four times more likely to experience sexual gender-based violence than the general population. Organisations providing victim support, such as Khulisa Social Solutions, regularly assist male victims of domestic violence, partner abuse, and family violence linked to substance abuse.
The Domestic Violence Amendment Act of 2021 explicitly recognises that domestic violence affects people of all genders and places victims in vulnerable positions regardless of sex.
Perpetration studies show that 76% of men surveyed in Gauteng in 2010 admitted to having committed some form of gender-based violence at some point. Between 28% and 37% of adult men in various South African studies report having raped a woman, with many first offences occurring during adolescence. Gang rape remains common, and reporting rates are extremely low — only one in 25 non-partner rapes in Gauteng is reported to police.
The annual economic cost of gender-based violence in South Africa is estimated at between R28.4 billion and R42.4 billion, equivalent to 0.9%–1.3% of GDP.
Health consequences for all victims include physical injuries, mental health disorders (anxiety, depression, PTSD), increased HIV transmission risk, and substance abuse. Children exposed to GBV in the home are more likely to perpetuate or experience violence later in life, continuing the intergenerational cycle.
Government responses include the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (2020), the signing of the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Act in May 2024, the Domestic Violence Amendment Act (2021), and the establishment of the GBVF Response Fund. Three additional GBV-related bills were signed into law in 2022 to strengthen justice and protection measures.
Despite these measures, implementation gaps, high case attrition rates, and persistent societal norms that tolerate violence continue to hinder progress.
Gender-based violence in South Africa is not limited to one gender. Women remain the majority of reported victims, but men and boys also suffer physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse — often in silence. Addressing the crisis effectively requires recognising and responding to the experiences of all victims, regardless of gender.
