Abusive Relationships

Words: 1233
Pages: 5

Abusive relationships are part of our everyday lives. Either by hearing of someone that suffered as a victim, or by knowing someone who tried to confide in you or even worse, by being a victim of abuse yourself. Domestic violence, household abuse or abusive relationships, however you prefer to call it, it boils down to the basics: one partner is suffering and their value of life is taken away from them. Unfortunately, this form of abuse is one of the most common forms of abuse that we are confronted with every single day. But for every case of abuse we hear about or find out about, there is more than likely another case that is never even heard of. This raises the question quite often, why do these abused women stay in relationships where they …show more content…
The reason for this lies in the fact that the victim has a sense of fear towards her partner. According to POWA, a South African feminist organisation, the biggest cause of fear towards a partner, is for the fear of the victim’s physical safety and that of her children. Therefore, the victim is more than likely to stay in the relationship, just for the sake of not letting any physical harm be done to her or her children. There are even cases where the woman would stay with her partner, and allow her children to live elsewhere, to allow her children to be safe. This is not a rare occurrence, since most organisations in South Africa that offer support for abuse victims, also offer support for their children. POWA, also one of the organisations that offer this support towards victims, focuses on giving safe shelter to the victims, as well as helping them to rehabilitate and be independent so that they do not have to rely on their abusive …show more content…
POWA is also the organisation spearheading the movement called the Raise Her Voice Campaign. This campaign is an eight-nation campaign with the goal to empower women to hold governments accountable for their commitments toward abuse against women as well as HIV treatment. This way, the victim no longer just stays a victim, but instead becomes a fighter for the rights of women that also suffered from this abuse. More than this, they are also busy with their own research regarding gender based violence in South Africa and in the world. The findings of this research is then in return used in the activities of POWA to improve the way that they approach and empower the victims of abuse, as well as publishing their research to help any other organisation with the same