Violence against women in Africa

Abstract

The available research on violence against women1 concludes that this problem is a reality in African societies and families and that it is spreading. it is necessary to underline that research of the issue in African countries is far from being comprehensive. Some of the studies manage only to touch upon the problem of violence against women and, as a rule, limit themselves to the analysis of certain aspects of the issue such as legal remedies for the victims and sanctions against the offenders for some of the most common forms of violent offenses. Among such studies one can mention a series on "The Law and the Status of Women" in the Central African Republic, Ghana, Morocco, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zaire carried out by the ECA African Training and Research Centre for Women (ATRCW). Some other studies address only specific types or forms of violence against women as, for example, Egyptian and Nigerian studies on "Women Assaulted in the Family" or "A Study of Rape in Swaziland" in the series "Women and Law in Southern Africa". These studies are based on official information available in police stations, courts, clinics and social welfare organizations which is far from being complete for the purpose of comprehensive research of the problem.