ABSTRACT
Since the establishment of the post-apartheid political settlement, women's participation in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of South Africa's government has increased significantly, and has helped secure a stronger focus on gender equity. This chapter examines which actors and processes shaped domestic violence policy adoption and implementation in South Africa. It argues that within South Africa's dominant institutionalized settlement, the need for a domestic violence law was demanded by a broad issue-based alliance composed of legal and women's rights organizations. This alliance used its informal links with the insiders in state bureaucracy to gain support from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) elite. Once the issue was taken up by the ANC, the progress on the law unfolded through formal routes. However, despite the success of policy adoption, policy implementation remains poor, mainly due to low-levels of resources allocated by government to protect women from violence, blurry definitions of interdepartmental roles, and pervasive patriarchal attitudes in state structures. This suggests that whilst dominant party settlements can achieve relatively fast and far-reaching legal reforms, strong ideological commitment is also required to drive through implementation.
