article · Sexes
An investigation into the lived experiences of twenty-nine women in the rural community of Gxulu, located within the OR Tambo District of South Africa, explores how cultural views of masculinity influence gender-based violence. The participants reported both positive and negative views of masculine characteristics. Expectations that men must lead and make primary decisions were perceived to contribute to the financial abuse of women, while cultural pressure to act as financially stable providers was linked to physical abuse. Substance misuse and alcohol consumption were identified as factors driving sexual abuse. Furthermore, alcohol misuse and cultural barriers preventing men from expressing emotions were perceived to generate emotional abuse. The findings highlight how specific social norms and behaviours sustain cycles of abuse, emphasising the necessity for community-level interventions that promote gender-equitable norms.
Understanding how cultural norms and social expectations shape gender-based violence is essential for developing effective prevention strategies. By centring women's lived experiences in high-prevalence rural areas, this research provides vital context on how expectations around leadership, financial provision, and emotional suppression intersect with substance abuse to sustain abuse, informing better community-level support.
The findings can inform the design of community-based, norm-corrective intervention programmes and training modules for non-governmental organisations, public health agencies, and social development practitioners. Because this is early-stage qualitative research focused on understanding social phenomena, direct commercialisation is not indicated, and practical applications remain at the intervention design and policy development stage rather than market deployment.
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Cultural constructions of masculinity in rural South Africa perpetuate gender-based violence (GBV), yet women’s perspectives remain underexplored, particularly in the high-prevalence OR Tambo District. This study examined women’s perceptions and lived experiences of masculinity constructs contributing to GBV in Gxulu. It is a rural community situated in the Libode Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, under the Nyandeni municipality 5160 A phenomenological qualitative design using purposive sampling for saturation was used. Semi-structured interviews conducted in isiXhosa and English were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. A total of 29 women participated in the study, with an average age of 33.4 years. The study found that women held negative and positive perceptions of masculine characteristics. Participants perceived that masculinity may be characterized by unfaithfulness, with expectations of men to lead and make decisions possibly contributing to financial abuse of women. Masculinity may also be characterized by substance and alcohol misuse, with expectations of men being financially stable providers possibly contributing to physical abuse. Additionally, women perceived that alcohol led to sexual abuse and created men who were unable to express their emotions, leading to emotional abuse. These women’s insights reveal aspects of masculinity fueling GBV cycles, underscoring the need for norm-corrective, community-based interventions to foster gender-equitable norms in the rural Eastern Cape.
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DOI: 10.3390/sexes7030042
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