Trosper 1

Leah Trosper
Professor Brooks
English 167
9 November 2015
Stop Forcing Women
Gendered violence is a term that encompasses many different types of violence, whether
its abuse as we normally think is associated with gender violence to other types like female
circumcision, or even forced marriages. Gender violence definitely applies to more than just
abuse, whether it is physical, mental, emotional, or even verbal. I thought I knew a lot about
gender violence, and what classifies as gender violence. I do know some of the subcategories of
it, but there is also so much more to it than I realize.
How prevalent is gender violence in Africa, specifically South Africa? Also, how much
does literature capture what violence is taking place in the world? I have started finding out more
about gender violence by researching it as much as I can on the internet, also by finding out what
others have to say about it. I have found out what I already know before the research by looking
it up also, but not that extensively, but also becoming an advocate and changing my major so I
can make sure that gender violence hopefully doesnt have to be so prevalent in the United
States.
While it feels that I know almost nothing about gender violence like I thought I did, I
want to learn more about it because it is something that I am definitely passionate about. Gender
violence is something that happens in our world, and learning more about it, especially in places

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that arent in the United States, will help broaden my understanding, and that way I can be more
effective in my work as a social worker. This is why I decided to research gender violence and its
role in South Africa.
Search Process
Gender violence in South Africa is still as much of an issue now as it was many years
ago; there is just a nicer label to cover up the atrocity. The question how prevalent is gendered
violence in South Africa? will create answers to help support the fact that gendered violence is
still a very big issue in South Africa, and even around the world.
First I am going to do a broad search of the term gender violence on Google to see what it
brings up. I will look at Wikipedia to get a definition, and hopefully a better perspective, and
then I will start to narrow my searches. After I do the broad search, I will try and see how I can
narrow the search so that I can just focus on gender violence in Africa, specifically around South
Africa.
I also plan to meet with Dr. Bertolini to discuss what she knows about gender violence,
and also the prevalence of it in South Africa. I feel that she is a great person to talk to and use as
a source because her background is in ethnic and women and gender studies. She also has a
background in colonialism and post-colonialism, and Im not sure if it ties into my topic of
gender violence but, who knows, it might. Maybe its just more material to strengthen my essay.
After meeting with her, I want to do more research on gender violence and see what I can
use in correspondence to what she will have to say. I will finally be able to narrow down my
topic of gender violence even more.

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Hopefully, after much research on my topic, and after meeting with Dr. Bertolini, I will
have a lot of information that I can definitely use to strengthen this essay.
Results from Research
I began my search with Google Scholar, because I thought it would turn up more finely
tuned information that I needed instead of a bunch of articles or blogs that loosely tied to gender
violence. So, I looked up gender violence; South Africa; and it brought up some great articles
about how gender violence is in South Africa, but only to women. After looking through several
articles that had great potential for supporting what I want to know about gender violence, I
decided to go a little broader and see what else I could find, so I just did a normal google search
on gender violence.
Most of what I found on just gender violence was a definition, which was really great and
eye opening; but, then I also just found a lot of things that had to do with domestic violence,
which wasnt exactly what I was looking for. I typed in the same search that I used in Google
Scholar, gender violence; South Africa. Using the same phrase in just a normal Google search
brought the same articles as Google Scholar, but it also turned up so much more, like newspaper
articles on actual accounts of gender violence happening, and not just articles saying how gender
violence is in Africa and how it needs to be changed and stopped.
A normal Google search turned out to have a lot more useful information than I had
originally thought. But, it was still good to find the articles that described how prevalent gender
violence was in South Africa, and then go in deeper and find written accounts of personal stories
dealing with gender violence.

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I then met with Dr. Bertolini, and she had an abundance of great information for my
topic. She helped me understand more about gender violence in South Africa, and some
possibilities as to why its so prevalent now. She also helped open my mind about how gender
violence is so much more than just abuse like I originally thought. She has also read We Need
New Names so she was definitely able to help tie my topic to this book, and definitely in ways I
hadnt thought of before.
Dr. Bertolini identified different symbols in the book that I hadnt noticed before that had
to do with gender violence. She identified that when Chipo was raped by her grandfather; she
literally lost her voice, but gained it back when she spoke up during the exorcism of the
woman in the church. She also helped point out that the exorcism was just another term for
justified rape, and that it was justified because it was in the name of God, and in a church.
Dr. Bertolini also brought up another good point about the differences in gender violence
when it comes to men and women, and how it shows up in We Need New Names. When it came
to violence against women, it was either a dominance thing with a man over a woman, or it was
an older woman over a younger woman, but always a domestic type of violence. But, when it
came to violence against the men, it was more of a power/political thing. The only violence
against men we saw was a display of power, or a public beating of a man by another man to also
show power in a very political way. That idea led to another thing Dr. Bertolini mentioned, in
that the men were/are raised in a way to think that violence is the answer, and if it cant be solved
with violence, then it cant be solved at all really. So, overall my interview with Dr. Bertolini was
informative.

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After my interview, I started thinking about how I can continue with my research even
after I turn this paper in. I want to read more African literature to better understand the different
cultures more, and how gender violence pertains to all of the different classes. I also want to take
women and gender studies classes, and then possibly minoring in it, that way I can use all of this
knowledge to help with my career in social work.
Having a career in social work I think will help better my understanding of gender
violence, and help me come up with different ways of trying to put a stop to gender violence.
This is something I am very passionate about, and I think it would make my life more
meaningful trying to solve this world issue. I want to know that I can make a difference and put a
stop to this awful commonality; even if its just in the life of one person, because even if I cant
make a difference in the world, I can make a difference in someones world.
When I went back to my research after my interview with Dr. Bertolini, I found more
information that I was looking for that supported that gender violence was so much more than
just abuse. I found that when it comes to forcing violence upon a woman, especially in a sexual
way, it can be very harmful to a womans health. The article, Prevalence and Pattern of Genderbased Violence and Revictimization among Women Attending Antenatal Clinics in Soweto,
South Africa, from the Oxford journals showed that woman with more violent or controlling
partners are more likely to contract HIV because of the carelessness of some of the men in South
Africa and how they view sex.
The gendered violence in We Need New Names touches on only some of the
subcategories that makes up the term gender violence. There is sexual harassment, forced rape,
an almost forced abortion, and political violence, but that is only the half of what is classified as

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gender violence. It also means marital rape, forced dowry and marriage, dowry related violence,
intimidation at the workplace or place of education, forced sterilization, and also forced
trafficking and prostitution (Kimani.)
Gender violence is very prevalent in the country of South Africa, but also in the country
of Zimbabe, where We Need New Names takes place, or its in other countries in Eastern Africa
like Tanzania or Ethiopia where over half of the women population in both of these countries
have reported having some sort of violence done to them, based on what Mary Kimani says in an
article done on gender violence in South Africa. I think its absolutely awful that Kimani found
statistics that high in certain parts of Africa.
This statistic also led me to another article that Michelle Faul from the Huffington Post
wrote. In this article she was doing an article on International Womens Day, and how women in
South Africa were going to celebrate it. But, in a tragic turn of events, three women were
murdered before that day, all on Valentines Day, by men that were supposed to have love them.
One of the women was actually going to be attending a Black Friday protest that fights for
womens rights, but then was brutally murdered before she had the chance to express her voice.
Judith Krieger also says that gender violence against women can be used as political also
because it is used as a tool or weapon against them so that women will stop resisting and comply
with what the men want. Things like rape, and murder, and also sexual harassment are the tools
used for this political power of controlling women.
Gender violence takes place at all ages of a womans life also. During young age it can
often be abuse, mainly physical, but also forced rape. As the girl grows older, date and marital

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rape are common, along with forced marriages, and genital mutilation. There is even gender
violence against elderly women also, with forced suicide, and even physical abuse.
Gender violence is a huge issue in South Africa, and even globally. There are many
different reasons as to why gender violence happens, but the main two are domestic and political.
There are many examples I could use to explain further the prevalence of gender violence, but
even just a few examples helps get the point across.
Gender violence is also very prevalent in We Need New Names, and it was really easy to
pull examples from the book, and to tie the book to the topic of gender violence. Its horrible and
sad how many examples there are in this book, but the even sadder thing is that scenarios like
that arent made up, they actually happen in the real world. Gender violence is a very real thing,
and more people need to be aware of it, so more action can be taken to stop it.

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Works Cited
African Culture and Domestic Violence. n.p., 2009. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.
Bertolini-Graham, Alison Dr. Personal Interview. 12 Nov. 2015.
Bulawayo, Noviolet. We Need New Names. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2013. Print.
Dunkle, Krisin L., Rachel K. Jewkes, Heather C. Brown, Mieko Yoshihama, Glenda E. Gray,
James A. McIntyre, and Siobn D. Harlow. Prevalence and Pattern of Gender-based
Violence and Revictimization among Women Attending Antenatal Clinics in Soweto,
South Africa. American Journal of Epidemiology. Oxford Journals, 5 February 2004.
Web 10 Nov. 2015
Faul, Michelle. South Africa Violence Rated Highest in the World. The World Post. The
Huffington Post, 8 March 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
Kimani, Mary. Taking on Violence Against Women in Africa. African Renewal Online. United
Nations African Renewal, 2007. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
Krieger, Judith. Gender Violence in Africa: African Womens Responses. Africa Today. Africa
Today Consultants, Inc., 2001. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.