U.S. and South Africa: Women’s Status

           South Africa is sometimes referred to as the rape capital of the world. This is because it is estimated that a woman is raped every 83 seconds. That means on average, every hour 43 women are raped in South Africa. That’s about 375,648 rapes a year, and that number is conservative. Such data is compiled from the number of reported rapes, and rape is one of the most underreported crimes in general. In comparison, in the United States it’s estimated that up to 700,000 rapes occur yearly. The number differs, because of different population sizes, but regardless of how you look at it, sexual violence is alarmingly prevalent globally. This is important to not, as such a violent crime is often perceived as wrong, but happening more in other parts of the world. This is the mindset employed by many Americans. That thinking leads to ‘othering’ or distancing from the victims of rape in other countries, as well as in the U.S. Rape emerges from tendencies towards violence, imbalances of power, and misogyny; and there is not a place in the world where these elements emerge.

            When examining how women in South Africa are fairing in general, when compared to the U.S., women are at the same stage in many issues. The following tables compare women’s status in South Africa and the U.S. using the data in “The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World” by Joni Seager.

Women In the World

Issue	United States	South Africa
Lesbian Rights	Homosexuality is legal	1st country to include protection for LGBT people in constitution
Domestic Violence: % experienced physical abuse by partner	31%	25%
Murder	42% murdered by intimate or family member	40%-70% of female murder victims killed by husbands/boyfriends
Abortion	Legal	Legal
HIV/AIDS	350,000 women in North America	22.5 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa infected; over half are women
Global Sex Trafficking	About 50,000 trafficked in per year; source and destination country	Source and destination country
Rape	About 700,000 per year; high occurrence rate	Rape every 83 seconds; high rape occurrence
Women in Government: Elected officials	15%-24%	25% and over
Crisis Zones	At war- no conflict in U.S.	Internal conflict, political upheaval (2000-2008)