Download or read book Women s Organizations and Democracy in South Africa written by Shireen Hassim and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 2006-06-26 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The transition to democracy in South Africa was one of the defining events in twentieth-century political history. The South African women’s movement is one of the most celebrated on the African continent. Shireen Hassim examines interactions between the two as she explores the gendered nature of liberation and regime change. Her work reveals how women’s political organizations both shaped and were shaped by the broader democratic movement. Alternately asserting their political independence and giving precedence to the democratic movement as a whole, women activists proved flexible and remarkably successful in influencing policy. At the same time, their feminism was profoundly shaped by the context of democratic and nationalist ideologies. In reading the last twenty-five years of South African history through a feminist framework, Hassim offers fresh insights into the interactions between civil society, political parties, and the state. Hassim boldly confronts sensitive issues such as the tensions between autonomy and political dependency in feminists’ engagement with the African National Congress (ANC) and other democratic movements, and black-white relations within women’s organizations. She offers a historically informed discussion of the challenges facing feminist activists during a time of nationalist struggle and democratization. Winner, Victoria Schuck Award for best book on women and politics, American Political Science Association “An exceptional study, based on extensive research. . . . Highly recommended.”—Choice “A rich history of women’s organizations in South African . . . . [Hassim] had observed at first hand, and often participated in, much of what she described. She had access to the informants and private archives that so enliven the narrative and enrich the analysis. She provides a finely balanced assessment.”—Gretchen Bauer, African Studies Review

Download or read book Domestic Democracy written by Jennifer Fish and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-11-16 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines the dialectic relationship between social inequality and change in the newly democratic South Africa through the lens of paid domestic labor. The complexities of this institution provide an in-depth analysis of the tension between the race and gender priorities of South Africa's new democracy and the lived realities of the majority of its population. Because paid domestic work remains the largest sector of employment for women in South Africa, it is critical to situating the scope of social change in this emergent democracy. This book presents the first comprehensive study of paid domestic labor since South Africa's 1994 post-apartheid transition. Drawing upon 85 interviews with domestic workers, employers, Parliamentarians, community activists and organizational leaders, this research offers diverse perspectives on the race, class and gender divides that remain integral to social relations in the context of national transition. In contrast, this study also details women's collective agency through the exploration of a critical social policy change shaped by the activism of a new union of domestic workers. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork, this book demonstrates that transformation of social relations remains one of the greatest obstacles to engendering democracy in South Africa.

Download or read book Women s Activism in South Africa written by Hannah Evelyn Britton and published by University of Kwazulu Natal Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women's Activism in South Africa provides the most comprehensive collection of women's experiences within civil society since the 1994 transition. This book captures South African women's stories of collective activism and social change at a crucial point for the future of democracy in the country, if not the continent. Pulling together the voices of activists and scholars, South Africa's path to democracy and the assurance of gender rights emerge as a complex journey of both successes and challenges. The collection elucidates a new form of pragmatic feminism, building upon the elasticity between the state and civil society. What the cases demonstrate is that while the state itself may not be a panacea, it still represents a key source of power and the primary locus of vital resources, including the rights of citizenship, access to basic needs, and the promise of protection from gender-based violence - all central to women's particular needs in South Africa.

Download or read book Women in the South African Parliament written by Hannah Britton and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2010-10-01 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the international press closely chronicled the dismantling of South Africa's apartheid policies, it paid little attention to the unique role women from a variety of political parties played in establishing the new government. Utilizing interviews, participant observation, and archival research, Women in the South African Parliament tells an inspiring story of liberation, showing how these women achieved electoral success, learned to work with lifelong enemies, and began to transform Parliament by creating more space for women's voices during a critical time in the life of their democracy. Arguing from her detailed analysis of the strategies and political tactics used by these South African women, both individually and collectively, Hannah Britton contends that, contrary claims in earlier studies of the developing world, mobilization by women prior to a transition to democracy can lead to gains after the transition--including improvements in constitutional mandates, party politics, and representation. At the same time, Britton demonstrates that not even national leadership can ensure power for all women and that many who were elected to South Africa's first democratic parliament declined to run again, feeling they could have a greater impact working in their own communities.

Download or read book Domestic Democracy written by Jennifer Fish and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-11-16 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines the dialectic relationship between social inequality and change in the newly democratic South Africa through the lens of paid domestic labor. The complexities of this institution provide an in-depth analysis of the tension between the race and gender priorities of South Africa's new democracy and the lived realities of the majority of its population. Because paid domestic work remains the largest sector of employment for women in South Africa, it is critical to situating the scope of social change in this emergent democracy. This book presents the first comprehensive study of paid domestic labor since South Africa's 1994 post-apartheid transition. Drawing upon 85 interviews with domestic workers, employers, Parliamentarians, community activists and organizational leaders, this research offers diverse perspectives on the race, class and gender divides that remain integral to social relations in the context of national transition. In contrast, this study also details women's collective agency through the exploration of a critical social policy change shaped by the activism of a new union of domestic workers. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork, this book demonstrates that transformation of social relations remains one of the greatest obstacles to engendering democracy in South Africa.

Download or read book Engendering Democracy in Africa written by Niamh Gaynor and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-06-01 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates women’s political participation in Africa. Going beyond the formal institutions of electoral politics, it explores a range of spaces where everyday politics take place, at national and at local levels. In recent years there have been significant improvements in the number of women elected to parliament in Africa. However, there is little indication that this is translating into better developmental outcomes, and indeed there is mounting evidence that it could in fact help to bolster some authoritarian regimes. Starting from the premise that politics is a far broader project than securing a seat in national or local legislatures alone, this book explores the opportunities for women’s political participation across a number of informal spaces where women and men gather, organise and interact in a more regular and systematic manner. Combining insights from political science, sociology and feminist theory and drawing on detailed cases from the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Rwanda, it examines how power in its multiple dimensions circulates across a range of everyday political spaces, while drawing attention to the links between domestic gender inequalities and the global political economy. Inviting scholars, practitioners and activists to broaden their focus beyond formal electoral institutions if they want to support women to become more politically active, this book provides fresh insights into major issues at the heart of African studies, development studies, gender and development, democratisation, and international relations.

Download or read book Un thinking Citizenship written by Amanda Gouws and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-03-02 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of citizenship in the context of South Africa implicitly challenges the rights-based democracy in South Africa, while literature regarding women and citizenship has greatly contributed to a new understanding of citizenship. Locally, many global processes are reproduced in the discourse of rights-claiming, issues of institutional representation, bodily integrity in the face of violence, and care in the face of a lack of care. This volume takes the debate of citizenship in South Africa in a more theoretical and empirical direction while engaging with knowledge produced elsewhere in the world. As part of the Gender in a Local/Global World series, it investigates the making of gendered citizenship, institutionalization of gender politics, the state of gendered policy making, local citizenship, rights, the women's movement, gendered violence, as well as citizenship and the body.

Download or read book The ANC Women s League written by Shireen Hassim and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-12 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First formed in the early twentieth century, the ANC Women’s League has grown into a leading organization in the women’s movement in South Africa. The league has been at the forefront of the nation’s century-long transition from an authoritarian state to a democracy that espouses gender equality as a core constitutional value. It has, indeed, always regarded itself as the women’s movement, frequently asserting its primacy as a vanguard organization and as the only legitimate voice of the women of South Africa. But, as this deeply insightful book shows, the history of the league is a more complicated affair — it was neither the only women’s organization in the political field nor an easy ally for South African feminism.

Download or read book Opposition and Democracy in South Africa written by Roger Southall and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-14 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection examines the nature, scope and prospects for political opposition under African National Congress political dominance.

Download or read book Engendering the Political Agenda written by International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women and published by UN. This book was released on 2000 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains three comparative case studies to show how gender issues are dealt with in the political structures of the Dominican Republic, Romania and South Africa. These countries were chosen because they are in the process of development and structural reform, with the strong involvement of the international community. The case studies examine two issues that are common to all three countries (violence against women and reproductive health) and one issue specific to each country.

Download or read book Government Confronts Culture written by Bruce Fuller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-09-10 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transitional societies—struggling to build democratic institutions and new political traditions—are faced with a painful dilemma. How can Government become strong and effective, building a common good that unites disparate ethnic and class groups, while simultaneously nurturing democratic social rules at the grassroots? Professor Fuller brings this issue to light in the contentious, multicultural setting of Southern Africa. Post-apartheid states, like South Africa and Namibia, are pushing hard to raise school quality, reduce family poverty, and equalize gender relations inside villages and townships. But will democratic participation blossom at the grassroots as long as strong central states—so necessary for defining the common good—push universal policies onto diverse local communities? This book builds from a decade of family surveys and qualitative village studies led by Professor Fuller at Harvard University and African colleagues inside Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.

Download or read book Gender Citizenship Democracy in Post apartheid South Africa written by Sheila Meintjes and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book South Africa Reborn Building A New Democracy written by Dr Heather Deegan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-08-04 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The political changes in South Africa have led to the country being viewed as a standard bearer for democracy within the African continent, and a beacon for democratic reform globally.; In this book, Heather Deegan looks at political reform in South Africa within a broad framework of global patterns of democratization. Her account is rooted in modern literature on democracy and democratization, and it is illuminated by interviews carried out at local and national level among members of the ANC, the Inkartha Freedom Party, the National Party, various women's organizations, labour and economic groups, traditional ethnic organizations, township representatives and religious groups.

Download or read book One Woman One Vote written by Glenda Fick and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Women in African Parliaments written by Gretchen Bauer and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Working together across religious, ethnic, and class divisions, African women are helping to formulate legislation and foster democracies more inclusive of women's interests. Women in African Parliaments explores this phenomenon, examining the impact and experiences of African women as they seek increased representation in national legislatures. The authors' carefully constructed case studies allow cross-national comparisons of the range of strategies that African women have used to achieve greater involvement in national politics. A unique feature of the work is the voices of African women themselves, who explain how they achieved or continue to fight for electoral success, how they learned to work with lifelong adversaries, and how they have begun to transform their parliaments.

Download or read book Redefining Politics written by and published by Cge. This book was released on 1999 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book African Women s Movements written by Aili Mari Tripp and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-11-10 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women burst onto the political scene in Africa after the 1990s, claiming more than one third of the parliamentary seats in countries like Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi. Women in Rwanda hold the highest percentage of legislative seats in the world. Women's movements lobbied for constitutional reforms and new legislation to expand women's rights. This book examines the convergence of factors behind these dramatic developments, including the emergence of autonomous women's movements, changes in international and regional norms regarding women's rights and representation, the availability of new resources to advance women's status, and the end of civil conflict. The book focuses on the cases of Cameroon, Uganda, and Mozambique, situating these countries in the broader African context. The authors provide a fascinating analysis of the way in which women are transforming the political landscape in Africa, by bringing to bear their unique perspectives as scholars who have also been parliamentarians, transnational activists, and leaders in these movements.