Poverty has placed women in vulnerable and precarious situations such that they find themselves in abusive relationships and having children with different men. Thando (not her real name) from Vaal highlighted this when she spoke about her difficult situation as an unemployed single mother living in abject poverty.
She narrated her ordeal on how she faced harassment from her husband but people advised her to stick to him because she was unemployed and she depended on him for the upkeep of the children. She therefore continued to stay with him for the sake of her children despite her suffering physically and emotionally. She however managed to escape from the jaws of abusive, sought counselling and started to live her own life and fending for her children. She has this to say;
“Abuse will always happen until women say no to abusive partners and report their cases to police station. However, the major challenge is that some women report their cases to the police but drop them later for the love of their partners and this makes them continue to suffer.”
