Twenty Years On and ‘So, What’s New?’

Abstract

The herstory of African women is one of sexualised forms of political violence which was used by the apartheid government to control women. African women were the ones who suffered the loss of sons, husbands, brothers and fathers, and who had to fend for themselves in the homelands or Bantustans. Ending women’s oppression was high on the agenda of the democratically elected government in 1994 and women’s groups lobbied consistently to ensure that gender equity was a priority. The violence in South Africa against women can be equated with a civil war on women’s bodies. There is saddening attitude of normalizing the violence committed against women and children. During the apartheid regime the dominant white group used violence to regulate the lives of African people and to remind them constantly of their subordinate status. This was not confined only to public and political spaces such as white and non-white signs on benches, beaches, shops and post offices but also penetrated private and domestic spaces. Black African men and women were subjected to conditions that perpetuated inequality, extreme disparities between the poor and the rich, violence in prisons and humiliating experiences of police harassment. Institutionalised racism led to feelings of inferiority and a lack of self-worth which contributed to acts to violence. The provision of a public space in which to voice women’s experiences of apartheid is essential as it is a contribution to a documentary record of the herstory of South Africa and to uncover the truth about the sacrifices that women have made. There is a crisis of violence against women – we need to seriously consider the dismantling of patriarchy. The concept of emancipation must involve societal transformation, women’s interests and gender interests in order to improve the status of women relative to that of men. The marginal role that women play in the occupational division of labour should be transformed to a central one. The struggle should now become a gender-conscious struggle for the new transformed South Africa.

Citation

Orton, B. (2018), "Twenty Years On and ‘So, What’s New?’", Women, Activism and Apartheid South Africa: Using Play Texts to Document the Herstory of South Africa, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 167-180. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78754-525-020181009