According to a new survey conducted by 1st For Women, only 3.6% of South African women feel safe within the province they live in, with the Western Cape ranked as the least safe province for women.
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The insurance company surveyed 6 596 South African women about their perceptions of safety during various everyday situations within their respective provinces and matched this with reported crime statistics extracted from SAPS for January to September 2023.
For a more accurate comparison of results, 1st For Women divided the number of responses by the overall number of survey respondents per province, and police report stats were calculated per 100 000 capita per province.
Each province was then ranked across 20 factors, giving each a normalised score out of 100 for each factor, before taking an average final score across all 20 metrics to give an overall ‘Safety Rating’.
Of the 6 596 women, the survey revealed that many women feel ‘unsafe’ or ‘completely unsafe’ in everyday situations in their province.
These everyday situations included:
- Walking alone during the day (66%)
- Walking alone during the night (98%)
- Driving alone (77%)
- Being at home alone (54%)
- Going out with friends (63%)
Sadly, it was revealed that 61% of respondents had already been victims of crime:
- House robbery or break-in (32%)
- Cellphone theft (24%)
- Handbag theft (13%)
- Smash and grab (8%)
- Gender-based violence (6%)
- Hijacking (5%)
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From a provincial level, the survey revealed that Limpopo had the lowest number of females who felt ‘unsafe’ or ‘completely unsafe’, as well as who had been a victim of a crime, with Mpumalanga and North West following after.
The Western Cape ranked as the least safe province for women, followed by Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.
Of the women surveyed, 30% are considering emigration due to safety concerns. The UK was identified as the most sought-after destination (20%), followed by Canada (18%), Australia (17%), New Zealand (13%), the US (10% and UAE (6%).
‘The Western Cape was bottom in the safety index (scoring 37.47) as it had the highest reported crimes per 100 000 capita for community-reported serious crimes, property-related crimes and theft of, or from, a vehicle,’ explained head of 1st for Women Insurance Seugnette van Wyngaard.
‘However, despite reports of some crimes being high, this does not necessarily mean they are more frequent. The region has a well-established infrastructure for reporting crimes and, as such, higher crime stats could be down to a more supportive reporting culture, which is a positive rather than a negative,’ van Wyngaard points out.
‘The index is a reflection of crimes which have been reported only, and women’s perceptions of safety within their provinces, so can only give us part of the bigger picture,’ van Wyngaard adds.
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