In Northern Ireland and South Africa, two countries that are attempting to rebuild their societies after extended periods of armed conflict, women who seek redress from gender-based violence through the criminal justice system encounter barriers to justice. Such barriers emerge from misogynistic attitudes toward women that prevent police from appropriately responding to reports of sexual and domestic violence, diminish the capacity of police and court officials to empathize with rather than blame victims, and impede judges from sentencing convicted perpetrators in proportion to their crimes. Despite the striking differences between these two countries, in each society women face similar patterns of obstacle when confronting the criminal justice system. Indeed, the respective criminal justice systems provide venues through which the hatred of women intersects with the secular politics of nation-building.