Women's Issues in South Africa, 1990-1994

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Periodical article

Title:	Women's Issues in South Africa, 1990-1994
Authors:	Sadie, Yolanda Van Aardt, Maxie
Year:	1995
Periodical:	Africa Insight
Volume:	25
Issue:	2
Pages:	80-90
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	women Women's Issues Law, Human Rights and Violence Labor and Employment History and Exploration Law, Legal Issues, and Human Rights Status of Women Politics and Government
Abstract:	The famous speech by former State President F.W. De Klerk of 2 February 1990 also proved a watershed for women in South Africa. For the first time women's concerns came to the fore. The period 1990-1994 was characterized by two broad developments regarding women and gender issues, namely decisive changes in the legal status and position of women, and the development of a broad-based women's movement. This article first disusses these two developments and then deals with the many issues that remained unsolved in these four years: issues relating to women in employment, customary law and the status of women, women and violence, AIDS and abortion, and basic needs such as access to clean water, education and health care. The conclusion is that although the first step in de direction of empowering women in South Africa has been taken, gender equality has by no means been achieved, as the status of women in South Africa is largely a subordinate one both inside and outside the home. Notes, ref. (Published in Spanish in: Nova Africa, no. 2 (1997), p. 27-44.)