Eswatini: Emaswati See Gender-Based Violence As Foremost Women's-Rights Issue to Address

Most citizens reject the use of physical force to discipline women and consider domestic violence a criminal rather than a private matter.

Key findings

  • Emaswati see gender-based violence (GBV) as the most important women's-rights issue that the government and society must address.
  • More than four in 10 citizens (43%) say violence against women and girls is a "somewhat common" (24%) or "very common" (19%) occurrence in their community.
  • A remarkable nine in 10 (91%) say it is "never" justified for a man to use physical force to discipline his wife.
  • More than one-third (36%) of respondents consider it "somewhat likely" (21%) or "very likely" (15%) that a woman will be criticised, harassed, or shamed if she reports GBV to the authorities. o But most (82%) believe that the police are "very likely" (59%) or "somewhat likely" (23%) to take cases of GBV seriously.
  • About seven in 10 Emaswati (69%) say domestic violence should be treated as a criminal matter, while 28% see it as a private matter to be resolved within the family.

Taking aim at gender-based and other types of violence, Eswatini's revised National Strategy to End Violence (2023-2027) is accompanied by an action plan costed at about U.S. $2.7 million (Deputy Prime Minister's Office, 2023). The strategy follows an earlier iteration (2017- 2022) that critics argue was poorly implemented and grossly underfunded (Human Rights Watch, 2024a). The new strategy is built on five key pillars: prevent all forms of violence, support survivors and their families, enhance the responsiveness of legal and justice systems, promote partnerships and coordination for violence prevention and response management, and build a violence knowledge centre (Veza News, 2024).

In Eswatini, about one in three women and girls experience some form of sexual violence by age 18, and almost half (48%) will experience sexual violence in their lifetime (Human Rights Watch, 2024b; Freedom House, 2024).

Under the global theme set by the United Nations Secretary-General's UNiTE campaign, "Every 10 minutes, a woman is killed. #NoExcuse. UNiTE to end violence against women," the most recent 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) campaign focused attention on the need for a multi-sectoral response to GBV and for funding that aligns with policy intentions (UN Women, 2024). Activists fighting for change have called on Eswatini's Parliament to allocate more resources to protect women and girls from violence (Human Rights Watch, 2024a).

Ahead of the opening of Parliament and the annual budget speech next month, this dispatch reports on a special survey module included in the Afrobarometer Round 9 (2021/2023) questionnaire to explore Africans' experiences and perceptions of gender based violence.

In Eswatini, an overwhelming majority of citizens say physical force is never justified to discipline women, but many report that GBV is common in their communities and constitutes the most important women's-rights issue that the government and society must address. Most consider domestic violence a criminal matter and believe that the police take GBV cases seriously.

Asafika Mpako Asafika is the communications coordinator for Southern Africa

Stephen Ndoma Stephen is the assistant project manager for Southern Africa

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