Assessment of male and female gender abuse reports in Maseru district

Abstract

This study explores the experiences of male and female victims when they report gender-based abuse to the police or other authorities. This was done in order to compare how reports by men are addressed as compared to those by women in Maseru District. The motivation for the study was that men in particular do not appear to report abuse cases and when they do they experience unsympathetic responses from the authorities. However, in order to see if men are treated differently it was necessary to also see how women are treated when they report abuse cases. The study sought to see what kind of training is offered regarding gender abuse for men and women in order to make recommendations for improving future training and support for victims of abuse. This was a qualitative study. A total of 22 purposively sampled respondents from two police stations included ten victims of abuse and two officers from the Police headquarters, namely human resource and the Coordinator of CGPU. Ten victims from Maseru and Mabote stations (Five victims from each station), formed the subjects who adequately responded to the interview guide questions. The