Breaking a girls’ legs or
……forcing the gate before you’ve been given the key …
“I have to have money so I can protect my child.”
Name: Martha
Age: 14
It was dark. I learned that I could walk into the town centre to get something to eat and clean clothes but I always went back to the railway station. After a while I was arrested there and locked up. My father came and got me and took me back to Minya but I ran away again. I went back to the railway station and the boys and girls there. I was better off there.
I don’t know what the future holds.
Now I’m pregnant and my problem is that I can’t find the father of my child. He’s disappeared! Nobody seems to know where he is.
I live in a home for pregnant street children. I’m going to get help to have my baby and today we’re going to the police station so I can get an ID card. I’ve never had one before.
I don’t know what the future holds but I need to earn lots of money now. I have to have money so I can protect my child.
Maternal deaths: 43 deaths per l00,000 births.
Number of children/woman: 2.97 (estimate for 2011)
Abortion legislation: Abortion is not legal. It is only allowed if the mother’s life is at risk. Very restrictive application.
Law against rape within marriage: No
Violence against women in close relationships: Two women are raped every hour. Only 12 per cent of 2,500 incidents of sexual harassment were reported to the police.
Saying, South Africa