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| Title: | Gender Politics in a Post-Apartheid South Africa |
| Author: | Hendricks, Cheryl |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Periodical: | SAFERE: Southern African Feminist Review (ISSN 1024-9451) |
| Volume: | 2 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Period: | June |
| Pages: | 14-22 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | South Africa Southern Africa |
| Subjects: | sexuality women Equality and Liberation Politics and Government politics political science Women's participation |
| Abstract: | Two years after South Africa's first nonracial elections in April 1994, it is possible tentatively to assess how far gender relations have been structured and/or to determine the likely direction thereof. The transition has brought about fundamental changes in gender relations, but these have fallen short of the expectations of many feminists. This paper assesses the extent of gender restructuring, explains the conditions that made these changes possible, and the structural factors that inhibit more far-reaching reforms. It shows that the extent of gendered change in South Africa is a product of a number of conjunctural factors such as the nature and timing of the transition, party politics, the nature of the government in power, the organizational ability of the women's movement, as well as the level of industrialization and urbanization in the country. The differing interaction of these variables contribute to the gains made by the women's movement and serve to explain the absence of more far-reaching reforms. In order for women to maintain their achievements and to pressure for more restructuring, they will have to remain mobilized while resisting the temptation to succumb to the trappings of embourgeoisement. Bibliogr. |