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Faith-based interventions in addressing violence against women in Cape Town

Violence against women is a social reality in South Africa. In 2014, the country was named the world rape capital by media and humanitarian organizations because of the intensity of violence. Several legal reforms have been put in place to address such violence, which include the Domestic Violence A...

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Main Author: Chirongoma, Fungai
Other Authors: Tayob, Abdulkader
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Religious Studies 2022
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access_status_str Open Access
author Chirongoma, Fungai
author2 Tayob, Abdulkader
author_browse Chirongoma, Fungai
Tayob, Abdulkader
author_facet Tayob, Abdulkader
Chirongoma, Fungai
author_sort Chirongoma, Fungai
collection Thesis
description Violence against women is a social reality in South Africa. In 2014, the country was named the world rape capital by media and humanitarian organizations because of the intensity of violence. Several legal reforms have been put in place to address such violence, which include the Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 and the establishment of Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences investigations units across all South African Police Services stations. However, because of the persistence of violence against women, it appears these laws and policies have not been successful in addressing the problem. As representatives of religion in the public sphere, Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) have also responded to the problem of violence against women. In this thesis, I study the interventions of Ihata Shelter, a Muslim organisation, St Anne's Homes, a Christian organisation, and South African Faith & Family Institute (SAFFI), a multi-faith-based organisation, in responding to violence against women in Cape Town, South Africa. Ihata Shelter and St Anne's Homes have established shelters to offer support to victims of abuse, and SAFFI provides education and training on violence against women to religious leaders and religious communities. Guided by Van Gennep's rite of passage theory, I argue that these organisations follow the model of a rite of passage in their interventions. I explain how the three stages of a rite of passage (separation, transition and incorporation) are embodied in these three organisations' interventions. My findings reflect that some of the women who had undergone the shelter programmes transformed from a state of trauma caused by abuse to a state of healing and empowerment, while some religious leaders transformed from a state of non-involvement to a state of positive engagement and action in addressing violence against women after undergoing SAFFI's teachings and trainings. Overall, I conclude that the work of these FBOs in addressing violence against women reflects the continued presence of religion in the public sphere and its role in addressing social problems.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:34:45.455Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2022
publishDateRange 2022
publishDateSort 2022
publisher Department of Religious Studies
publisherStr Department of Religious Studies
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/35699 Faith-based interventions in addressing violence against women in Cape Town Chirongoma, Fungai Tayob, Abdulkader Dilger, Hansjörg Religious Studies Violence against women is a social reality in South Africa. In 2014, the country was named the world rape capital by media and humanitarian organizations because of the intensity of violence. Several legal reforms have been put in place to address such violence, which include the Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 and the establishment of Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences investigations units across all South African Police Services stations. However, because of the persistence of violence against women, it appears these laws and policies have not been successful in addressing the problem. As representatives of religion in the public sphere, Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) have also responded to the problem of violence against women. In this thesis, I study the interventions of Ihata Shelter, a Muslim organisation, St Anne's Homes, a Christian organisation, and South African Faith & Family Institute (SAFFI), a multi-faith-based organisation, in responding to violence against women in Cape Town, South Africa. Ihata Shelter and St Anne's Homes have established shelters to offer support to victims of abuse, and SAFFI provides education and training on violence against women to religious leaders and religious communities. Guided by Van Gennep's rite of passage theory, I argue that these organisations follow the model of a rite of passage in their interventions. I explain how the three stages of a rite of passage (separation, transition and incorporation) are embodied in these three organisations' interventions. My findings reflect that some of the women who had undergone the shelter programmes transformed from a state of trauma caused by abuse to a state of healing and empowerment, while some religious leaders transformed from a state of non-involvement to a state of positive engagement and action in addressing violence against women after undergoing SAFFI's teachings and trainings. Overall, I conclude that the work of these FBOs in addressing violence against women reflects the continued presence of religion in the public sphere and its role in addressing social problems. 2022-02-18T04:24:02Z 2022-02-18T04:24:02Z 2021 2022-02-09T13:03:05Z Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35699 eng application/pdf Department of Religious Studies Faculty of Humanities
spellingShingle Religious Studies
Chirongoma, Fungai
Faith-based interventions in addressing violence against women in Cape Town
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title Faith-based interventions in addressing violence against women in Cape Town
title_full Faith-based interventions in addressing violence against women in Cape Town
title_fullStr Faith-based interventions in addressing violence against women in Cape Town
title_full_unstemmed Faith-based interventions in addressing violence against women in Cape Town
title_short Faith-based interventions in addressing violence against women in Cape Town
title_sort faith based interventions in addressing violence against women in cape town
topic Religious Studies
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35699
work_keys_str_mv AT chirongomafungai faithbasedinterventionsinaddressingviolenceagainstwomenincapetown