The Gender Unit was established in 1998, initially as part of the Criminal Justice Policy Unit. In 2001 it started to function as a separate unit, the Gender and Violence Project, later Gender Unit. It served to more comprehensively incorporate a gender focus into all of the Centre's activities. It aimed to engage in research, monitoring or evaluation of interventions in the field of violence against women, and come up with a range of educational strategies for a public awareness and education on gender violence in South Africa.