An exploration of students’ lived experiences of Gender-based violence (GBV) at a South African University

Abstract

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a general term used to capture violence that is directed at an individual based on their biological sex, gender identity, or adherence to socially constructed norms of masculinity or femininity, which may be linked to unequal power relations one gender has over the other (Davids, 2020). Gqola (2015) speaks to the nature of rape and GBV to be a social problem that is prominent, entrenched, and regularly reported in the South African media. However, the report’s subtlety still communicates and suggest that not much is being done about the issue or problem in South Africa. A qualitative research methodology was utilised to seek an in-depth understanding of students’ lived experiences of Gender-based violence (GBV) at a South African University. The ability for qualitative research to appropriately explore the experiences of students being subjected to GBV made it an ideal research approach. Under the qualitative approach, a descriptive phenomenological approach was used. The descriptive phenomenological approach aims to understand people’s perceptions, perspectives, and understanding of a particular phenomenon. Three students were employed for this study. These were all female students studying at the University of Pretoria. All three students were of African ethnicity. The students ages ranged from 21 and 24. The students are currently completing their degrees in psychology, theology, and medicine respectively. This study primarily focused on issues related to the overall safety of students and how safety precautions established by the university influenced their feelings of safety and fear about certain areas on campus. The findings highlighted that the students were keenly aware of the GBV prevalence on university campuses and surrounding spaces, which birthed an innate fear of potential harm within these spaces. Furthermore, the students each shared the experience of feeling that the university could do more to disperse widespread awareness and information about student safety protocols and legislation with regards to GBV incidences. Therefore, the findings of this study do provide evidence that GBV in university environments may need to be further examined and that more should be done to ensure that students are safeguarded by university policies and laws.