Gender-based violence as a consequence of functional differentiation

Abstract Gender-based violence (GBV) is the most prevalent form of violence that poses multiple threats to global sustainability, estimated at costing the global economy as much as $1.5 trillion annually (United Nations Women 2016). Despite increased research and intervention there has not been a significant reduction in global statistics. The objective of this article is to conceptualise GBV as a consequence of functional differentiation by drawing from Luhmann’s social systems theory and current reports published in news media in South Africa and globally. The key argument is that function systems exclude both victims and perpetrators of GBV through their binary coding, and that systems’ evolution determines the outcome, which is, in this case, the persistence and increase in GBV, more so in South Africa. As Luhmann further argues, world society “lacks the inherent rationality required” to facilitate change and given that human individuals cannot communicate, it is unlikely that successful GBV intervention can be planned or implemented because systems evolution cannot be planned. It is therefore most likely that the “unresolvable indeterminacies” of function systems will sustain GBV in their environments.