South Africans Overwhelmingly Say Police, Courts Are Failing to Protect Women and Girls Against Discrimination and Harassment

Women For Change
Many activists want gender-based violence to be declared a national disaster
14 November 2025
Afrobarometer (Accra)
By Asafika Mpako and Stephen Ndoma

From school to the workplace, barriers to gender equality persist.

Key findings

  • In South Africa, more women than men have post-secondary education (41% vs. 31%). o Most South Africans (85%) say it is rare or unheard of for families to prioritise boys' education over girls', but 13% say this happens frequently. o And three times as many (39%) say schoolgirls "often" or "always" face discrimination, harassment, and requests for sexual favours from their teachers.
  • Among working-age adults, more women than men say they are unemployed and looking for work (43% vs. 35%). o Employers' preference for hiring men and women's lack of necessary education or skills are the most frequently cited barriers to women's entry and advancement in the workplace. o Fully one-quarter (25%) of respondents report that women are "often" or "always" prevented from taking paid employment by their husbands or family members.
  • Three-quarters (75%) of South Africans say women should have the same chance as men of being elected to public office, a 6-percentage-point drop compared to 2022. o Men are 16 percentage points less likely than women to endorse equal opportunity in politics (66% vs. 82%).
  • More than four in 10 South Africans (44%) say women "often" or "always" experience sexual harassment in public spaces such as in markets, on the street, and in public transport. o More than three-fourths (77%) of citizens say women and girls are likely to be believed if they complain of discrimination or harassment. o But an even greater majority (90%) say the police and courts should do more to protect women and girls from discrimination and harassment.

The South African Constitution sees the achievement of gender equality as central to building a democratic and inclusive society. But Statistics South Africa's (2024) recent report on women's empowerment reveals significant gaps.

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In terms of economic opportunity, despite a 4.9-percentage-point gain in women's labour force participation over the past decade, their rate still trails men's (55.8% vs. 65.6% in Quarter 2 of 2024), and women are generally paid less than men for doing the same work ((Statistics South Africa, 2024; Kumalo & Nkomo, 2024). According to South Africa's 2025 Food Security Index report, female-headed households are more vulnerable to food insecurity than male headed households, underscoring gender disparities in access to nutrition (African News Agency, 2025).

But women's empowerment is not limited to employment and economic security: Ensuring women's full participation in society also demands that they be free from the threat of violence (UN Women, 2024). South Africa's rates of gender-based violence (GBV) remain stubbornly high, despite President Cyril Ramaphosa's declaration of GBV as a national emergency in 2019 (Leach, 2025). And more than a year after he signed the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Act into law, the national council meant to coordinate efforts to tackle GBV and femicide is yet to be established (Roos, 2025).

The country's first-ever national GBV prevalence study found that more than 7.3 million South African women aged 18 years and older (33%) have experienced physical violence at some point in their lives (South African Government News Agency, 2024).

Other areas have seen notable progress even if challenges remain. School enrolment for girls has increased exponentially. At university level, both enrolment and completion rates are greater for women than for men, although gender activists are quick to point out the underrepresentation of women in crucial fields of study such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) (Chimoio, 2024).

Women hold 25.8% of top management jobs in the private sector and 43.5% of seats in Parliament, up from 27.7% at the advent of democracy in 1994. Women also constitute one third of the Constitutional Court, 48% of the Supreme Court of Appeal bench, and 40% of the High Court (Buthelezi, 2024; Swarts, 2025).

Ahead of 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children (25 November 10 December) (South African Government, 2024) and a national shutdown that activists have called for 21 November to protest against GBV (Khulu, 2025), this dispatch offers a citizens' perspective on the effectiveness of strategies to empower women in South Africa. Survey findings suggest that women continue to face discrimination, harassment, and barriers in various facets of life, both public and private.

South African women are more likely than men to have higher education, but they are also more likely to be unemployed and looking for work. And while few respondents say that families still prioritise boys' education over girls', significant minorities report that husbands and relatives prevent women from taking employment and that sexual harassment of women and girls in public spaces is common. Four in 10 citizens say that schoolgirls face discrimination, harassment, and requests for sexual favours from their teachers.

Most South Africans think women and girls are likely to be believed if they complain of discrimination or harassment, but an overwhelming majority say the police and courts need to do more to protect women and girls from such treatment.

And while most citizens support women's equal chance at being elected for public office, the share who espouse this view has declined since Afrobarometer's previous survey in 2022.

Asafika Mpako Asafika is the communications coordinator for Southern Africa

Stephen Ndoma Stephen is the assistant project manager for Southern Africa

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

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