Reflections On The Gender Empathy Gap

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I was intrigued by an article shared by Ground Up and the Daily Maverick titled, “Battered woman syndrome”: law to be challenged." The Centre for Applied Legal Studies has laid out a strong argument for women who kill in self defence arguing that the courts don't empathise or consider the psychological effects of abuse when sentencing "battered women."    

CALS argued that “This case demonstrates that the current approach of providing courts with wide unfettered discretion when considering mitigation in relation to women who kill their intimate partners as a result of prolonged violence is insufficient in dealing with femicide in this country.”

I realized that there was no mention of men or the "battered man syndrome" exepct the abusive husband but I was not surprised considering the prevailing narrative around men and reality of many women in South Africa.

In this short episode, I question whether this attempt to justify the husband's killing as self defence adds to the gender empathy gap men experience in the legal system? 

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