Women in South African Society: Some Issues

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Periodical article

Title:	Women in South African Society: Some Issues
Author:	Biswas, Aparajita
Year:	1998
Periodical:	African Currents
Volume:	13
Issue:	25
Period:	April
Pages:	1-15
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	women feminism Women's Issues Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Ethnic and Race Relations Cultural Roles Equality and Liberation Sex Roles
Abstract:	The overwhelming change in South Africa's political system since 1990 has had a tremendous impact in South African society and has helped the South African women's movement create an opportunity to politicize women's issues and to ensure that these would be placed firmly on the political agenda during the negotiations for the new South African constitution. At the same time, one of the most serious challenges to the women's movement is that of preventing differences among women from becoming divisions that could weaken the struggle for women's emancipation and gender equality. The author briefly discusses some of the important women's issues which have been debated widely in South Africa, notably occupational segregation and wage discrimination, and highlights two developments that took place between 1990 and 1994, viz. changes in women's legal status with the government's publication of three draft bills covering the promotion of equal opportunity, the prevention of domestic violence, and the abolition of discrimination against women, and the creation of the Women's National Coalition (WNC) in April 1992. Bibliogr.