Publication

This paper explores how men and women applying for protection orders at two courts in Gauteng, South Africa have used the Domestic Violence Act (DVA). The DVA was introduced as a comprehensive civil remedy for domestic abuse in 1998. The authors review applications for protection orders registered between 2000 and 2001, showing that significantly more women than men apply for protection orders. Their key findings include evidence that women were most likely to seek protection from intimate partners, and that male applicants generally tended to be older than female applicants.