An assessment of the policing of intentional microaggressions in the Gauteng Province, South Africa

An assessment of the policing of intentional microaggressions in the Gauteng Province, South Africa Nomsa Ingrid Zikalala Department of Police Practice, University of South Africa, Preller Street, Muckleneuck Ridge, City of Tshwane, Pretoria, South Africa. Corresponding author: zikalni@unisa.ac.za © Author (s) OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, Ontario International Development Agency, Canada. ISSN 1923-6654 (print) ISSN 1923-6662 (online) www.oidaijsd.com Deposited in SSRN repository: https://www.ssrn.com/ssrn/ Abstracts: South African statutes prohibit and criminalize unfair discrimination however, intimidation, hate speech, harassment, and defamation of character are prevalent in South Africa. Law enforcement must understand the dynamics of microaggressions, stay vigilant of women’s responses to microaggressions in public, and have knowledge of the applicable legislations, in order to deter microaggressions and other forms of discrimination. One in three types of microaggressions are detectible, which is problematic for policing. Microassaults entail intentional microaggressions such as racial and gender slurs, which threaten women’s dignity and have negative psychological consequences. The study was motivated by the pervasive threats of subtle violence against women in public in South Africa. Twenty police officials from the Vispol sector were recruited from six police stations in the Gauteng province, and purposive sampling technique was used. Participants provided written consent during face-to-face interviews. The objective was to assess the policing of microaggressions in the province. The research method was qualitative research, with an interpretive phenomenological design. The five dominant themes were, body Language, intimidation, gender-based discrimination, policing styles, and criminal laws. Results showed that most participants identified incidences of intentional microaggression through women’s body language, perceived it as intimidation and gender-based discrimination, and used criminal laws to police it. Furthermore, most participants used the service policing style to intervene. Punitive measures were recommended to deter intentional microaggressions. The study recommended educational programmes to promote the use of Sign-language by women in domestic violence or other dangerous situations. The findings were ungeneralizable due to the small sample size.