On the Question of Women in the South African Struggle Ivy Matsepe Casaburri Introduction There are several approaches to the "woman question" even among Marx- ists or radical analysts. These have tended to define the parameters of the debate on the "Woman question". Each approach has a different focus or places analytical emphasis on different aspects of women's oppression or subordination. Radical feminists believe that women's position is primarily determined by a patriachal sex system and that the division of labor by class and race stems from that system. The elimination of gender oppression, it is assum- ed, would also remove all other forms of oppression. Consequently, women are the most revolutionary group and they must work (if possible separately from men) to achieve sexual equality. The inadequacy of this theory for South Africa (as well as other countries in the world) will be shown later. Some Marxist feminists, sticking close to the classics, see women's condi- tion as deriving from their class position. They use Marxist categories of the labour process namely in production and reproduction to define women's role. According to them the struggle of women is basically against capital in conjunction with other workers. With the growth of the feminist move- ment, more subtle positions have been taken among socialist feminists, irr- corporating elements from these positions. It is now argued that there are two systems of oppression facing women — patriarchy and class. The former system oppresses all women. The latter system oppresses all. Black feminists however criticized these approaches on the basis of their lack of consideration of the "Race Question". They argued that even within the different classes, black men and women were oppressed and that blacks form (in most countries) the majority of the working class or else the greater proportion of blacks are working class. Strategically therefore, black work- ing class women's struggle is the essence of what all women's struggle is all about. It is argued that this struggle is against all forms of oppression: class, race and gender. WOMEN m THE S.A. STRUGGLE 41 Though the above theoretical debates have developed mainly in the ad- vanced western countries especially the United States, they have some im- plications for South Africa as it is confronted by similar questions. However, we have to be careful not to impose debates, categories etc. developed in different cultural contexts, and under different historical conditions and in highly advanced countries to South Africa. The specificity of the South African social formation is paramount in the analysis of the "woman ques- tion" in that country. A number of commentators have remarked unfavourably about the lack of development of a feminist movement in South Africa especially among African women who are seen as the 'most exploited' of social groups in the country. Few analysts of South Africa had until fairly recently paid serious attention to "the woman question". But these analysts have also differed in their approach to the question. There have been those that focus on the structure of society in particular Wolpe's theories to explain women's posi- tion and those that have emphasized the notion of class struggle — a notable proponent being Bizzoli (1983). Both approaches have been criticized however for the neglect of culture as an important dimension in the analysis of women in South Africa. The approach followed here recognizes a constant interaction between political, economic, ideological and cultural factors as well as between struc- tures and social actors because they are bound in a dialectical relationship. This approach allows for different levels of investigation and analysis — at the abstract level of theory as well as at the concrete level at which social agents act to make history. It allows us to analyse women as members of the dominant group as well as the subordinate groups along different dimensions. The oppression of women in South Africa is structurally determined by economic, political, ideological and cultural factors. But this is not the only determinant. Class struggle or the conscious struggle to change that position also helps to shape that oppression. While structural factors tend to dominate, we recognize however that classes, race and other factors may indeed act to bring about changes in those structures. This approach is true to the analytical tradition which asserts that people make history, but do not do so under the conditions of their own choosing. The starting point of this Brief analysis of the South African society aims at not only to make us think through the dynamics of race class and gender but of culture as well. The recognition of and respect for real differences of class, race and culture of South African women enables us to deal with the different ways the different women — African, Coloured, Asian and White — experience their subordination and the different implications of 42 RANWEDZI H. NENGWEKHULU that subordination.1 These are not merely academic issues; they are also im- portant for the political mobilization of women, especially those groups that have previously been perceived to be marginal to the struggle for national liberation but whose importance has now been recognized. But the specificity of South Africa's historical development and the development of racial capitalism presents us with yet another set of factors within which to contextualize this analysis. Therefore an understanding of the historical, material and attendant ideological conditions which structure different women's positions and consciousness of their oppression, is also necessary. However these are complex issues and the paper does not intend to be an exhaustive analysis but attempts merely to raise questions and issues that are important in determining future directions for a democratic South Africa on the question of women. And we assume this question to involve "an awareness of woman's oppression and exploitation [in society, at work and within the family] and conscious action by women and men to change this situation" (Reddock 1982). My intention in this paper is not to provide all the answers to the complex question but to provoke thought on a subject that affects such a large part of our population and which touches upon key aspects of mobilization that confront the liberation movement — a movement often accused of paying only lip-service to the oppression of women. Historical Considerations We argue that historically the oppression and exploitation of African women is in the first instance due to the economic and political interests of interna- tional capital as well as of the white ruling class. In the second instance it is in the interest of all allies of the ruling class who benefit from the perpetua- tion of the socio-economic priviledges of whites an ideological and cultural subordination of all Africans by those who control the state. While we recognize that not all African women experience their oppres- sion in exactly the same way, a large proportion of African women have had their position structured by the integration of African economies into the world market and by such phenomena like land and agricultural policies and especially the migrant labour system. Colonial history and administrative reports are replete with concrete evidence of the visions which white colonialist administrators and mining capital had of the role of African women in the political economy of South Africa — that of subsidizing the low levels of remuneration of migrant labourers and thus efficiently exploiting the labour of all Africans in those regions that supplied such migrant labor, (see Native Economic Reports 1903 to 1948). Different policies were pursued in the dif- WOMEN IN THE S.A. STRUGGLE 43 ferent areas but they were based on the same rationale. The economic ra- tionale of the policies that had been pursued for quite some time were clear- ly expressed by the following extract from the South African Native Affairs Department Report which states: that the provision of subsistence for the family of the worker, which is left behind in the reserves, forms a vital subsidy to wages which the worker receives in those industries without which those industries (the goldmines, for instance) could not be carried on. (1931:13) The modes of labor control devised, the reproduction of these modes and their ideological and cultural support systems, necessitated a restructuring of African kinship, family and cultural traditions etc. One of the mechanisms used to achieve this was the changes of the law affecting women and mar- riage so well documented by H. J. Simons (1958). In the restructuring of these African societies, numerous changes were made. Some were grafted onto aspects of culture and/or traditions which were unfavourable to women and entrenched their subordination e.g. the institutionalization of African women's junior status. A good example of this is the changes matrilineal societies of Northern Namibia have undergone. In their case much of the laws, traditions and kinship patterns that gave women a relatively strong position have been completely eroded and patriachal structures have replaced them. Although the subsistence base upon which African women could initially produce to augment low wages of male migrant labour has been totally erod- ed, the system itself has not changed. Consequently, women have had to be drawn into new forms of productive activity e.g. seasonal migrant labour, in informal sector or else driven to greater poverty levels. The increased pover- ty levels of the Bantustans are clear proof of this trend (Carnegie Papers 1984). It has been argued that capitalism is being blamed for the oppression of women when in actual fact such oppression preceded the development of capitalist relations. It cannot be denied that asymmetrical gender relations were antecedent but other asymmetrical relations also existed which mediated this gender asymmetry. For example in African culture, age was an impor- tant aspect of hierarchical relations among Africans. The role of "geren- tocracy" remains unexplored in analysis of these hierarchical asymmetrical relations across gender lines. For example Bizzoli has argued that it is the ability of African societies to control the labor of women that resulted in women remaining behind when men went on migrant labor contracts. But it was the young men who were sent out initially — not all men. The ability to control the labor of young men was couched in numerous cultural traditions. Today, under totally dif- 44 IVY MA TSEPE CASABURRI ferent historical and economic conditions, the women continue to be pro- hibited from leaving reserves/or Bantustans by a myriad of legal and ad- ministrative measures that have nothing to do with African men's oppres- sion of women, but have everything to do with racial political domination of Africans. We should however also see the initial "youthful maleness" of migrant labor as a strategy African households employed for survival — both economic and cultural. That it was detrimental to women however cannot be denied. In other areas of South Africa, however, African women's position was not structured via the migrant labor system but through the exploitation of all family labor via the land tenancy system — in the Free State and Transvaal especially but also in some parts of Natal.2 Unlike their other counterparts, these women did not experience their exploitation indirectly but very direct- ly from very early in the process of integration into the world market economy. The effective expropriation of land, and the changing structure of tenancy relations resulted for example in the early proletarianization of African women in the Free State as compared for example with Natal. This explains the difference in the early composition of the domestic.service sec- tor (an early step in the proletarianization of women) between the two pro- vinces — namely predominantly African female in the former and initially male dominated in the latter. A third group of women were those that belonged to the strata of small landed peasantry and traditional elite among the different ethnic groups. Dif- ferent traditions and property relations regarding gender affected the women but generally for all these women their rights in land and property became severely circumscribed or totally eliminated. It is from this stratum that most of the early professionally trained women came. Today most of the middle class professional and commercial petty bourgeoisie women have their roots in this strata but some of them are women from other socially mobile families whose urban residence was able to allow them access to education, employ- ment and some commercial activities.3 Women, thus historically differently constituted, are today located in dif- ferent positions in the labor structure, and are affected differentially by residential laws (e.g. those allowed to live in 'white' areas by Section 10 laws) and by 'citizenship' to Bantustans. Each of these conditions structures African women's consciousness of their oppression in present day South Africa. The 'Coloured' population group has its historical origins in the intermar- riages of various population groups in the Cape — Africans, Khoi, Malays, of both Slave and hon slave origins and whites. Landless and economically disadvantaged relative to the other groups, they entered wage labour very early in the history of capitalist development — mainly in the agricultural WOMEN IN THE S.A. STRUGGLE 45 sector of the Cape. Their geographic distribution is pertinent to the analysis of women. Approximately 86 per cent of the population is located in the Cape; 77 per cent is urban, mainly concentrated in Cape Town and in towns stretching along the eastern Cape to Port Elizabeth with smaller concentra- tions in the Transvaal cities and Durban. The rural population among them is found mainly in the agricultural areas of the Cape province. Mostly Chris- tian (only 6.3 per cent Muslim) and 90 per cent Afrikaans speaking, the women were very early drawn into domestic service and later into the early manufacturing industries. These women's historical experience in the process of South Africa's in- dustrialization has many similarities with those of many African women but their predominantly urban characteristics, cultural mixture and slightly bet- ter social position in the racial hierarchy of the racist system, mediates the manner in which they experience apartheid and gender oppression. Indian women on the other hand have experienced their subordination/op- pression and exploitation in a very different manner historically. Their historical background differs; their position is mediated not only by member- ship of a special 'racial category' that appears to be culturally exclusionary, but also by their position in the political economy of the geographic areas in which they are predominant. Although the majority of Indians in South Africa are born there, they have roots that tie them to areas of origin in India. Their cultural, linguistic, economic and religious origins as well as class positions and geographic distribution presents us with several issues to take into consideration when dealing with the question of women. In other words the structural position of these women in the society is further mediated by religious culture and ethnicity. Ninety per cent (90%) of Indians are descendants of indentured labor. Ap- proximately 70 per cent are Hindu and 20 per cent are Muslim. The latter group have their historical bases in South Africa, not in indentured labor but m being what is called "Passenger Indians". These were Indians who paid their passages and were mainly traders from Western India. Because of the latter's class position, they were able to maintain contact with coun- try and areas of origin and thus reproduce their culture, especially at the domestic level and at societal level as well. The geographic distribution of these groups gives an added dimension; 91% of Indians are urban; of these between 82-85% are in Natal; the ma- jority live in the Durban-Pine-Pietermaritzburg vicinity and within a 150 kilometer radius. About 10% live in the industrial Witwatersrand — Pretoria Complex. 46 IVY MATSEPE CASABURRI Moslem Indians are concentrated in Durban and along the line of rail from Durban to Johannesburg where they are mainly in the commercial sector. Approximately 90% of the Transvaal Indians are in the commercial sector. Although Hindus form the largest group, they have different class backgrounds. The later arrivals among them did not come indentured. They were drawn from Northern India and linguistically were Hindi and came from the higher castes. The ex-indentured among the Indians entered mainly wage employment as waiters, traders, hawkers and initially also as domestics. Though many of them became upwardly mobile and moved into other classes or strata, it is from this portion that the Indian working class is drawn. Among both of these broad groups: Religious-cultural practices continue to be reproduced especially at the household level but to some extent at the societal level, though some of these may be on the decline. For example ar- ranged marriages — usually along religious and/or linguistic lines occur and these may be important in the manner in which the women experience their oppression under a racial capitalist system. Other social conditions may throw light on women's conditioii. In Natal in 1963,64% of Indians lived below the poverty line; in 1970, 34% still lived in abject poverty. Approximately 20% of industrial workers in Natal were employed by Indians.4 It is not certain how many of the workers are female. Should the large proportion be female, further issues are raised regarding how women experience their oppression. There is need to investigate the con- crete level and explore the implication of all the results. White women's historical roots are not uniform either. Ethnicity and class played crucial roles. White Afrikaner women's origins were based in land, most of which was expropriated by violence from Africans. Their differen- tial class positions developed out of the fact that as the Afrikaners lost land and became impoverished, it was the younger women who were first sent into wage employment. This is yet a further example of survival strategies families would employ.5 Those Afrikaners that were able to hold on to land and eventually became the agricultural bourgeosie, became significant in the ruling class. However to achieve this position they sought and obtained the alliance of the Afrikaner working class (Morris M.L. (1982); Legassick 1982; 1977;). To obtain this alliance the ideology of white supremacy became very necessary in order to divide the working class. Today, that racist ideology has a relative autonomy of its own and is reproduced at both the household level and at the societal level. Some white women, mainly of English background arrived in the country as domestic servants (Gaitskell, 1983). But as the economy expanded and marriage opportunity became plentiful, these women quickly moved out of WOMEN IN THE S.A. STRUGGLE 47 this employment,6 as the changing structure of the domestic service sector illustrates (Gaitskell et al, 1983). Many working class white women at first augmented low wages of husbands by engaging in 'productive' activities such as sewing, beadwork, cakemaking etc. with the help of domestic servants. But as job reservation ensured higher levels of remuneration for white men, many white working class women became full-time housewives; many entered the commercial and tertiary sectors as the tables illustrate (see also Yawitch 1983). English speaking women of the growing commercial, mining and manufac- turing bourgeoisie, from very early in the development of capitalism, held a privileged position and were later joined by the Afrikaner and immigrant women that moved into this class and other privileged strata. The ideology of racism as well as that sexist ideology that enshrined their "pedestal" posi- tion, served the interest of these women very well. It is within their households especially that those racist, sexist and class ideologies that oppressed African women were reproduced on a daily basis as well as generationally (in the rearing of white children). Of course these ideologies were reproduced at the social level through the massive ideological apparatus of the state, via schools, the media etc., and via the church. Women's Participation in the Economy Agriculture and Service Sectors Women's position in the structure of the economy as has been shown in numerous studies has implications for them. African women's participation in the economy reveals several characteristics. The largest proportion (+ 37%) are employed in the service sector, constituting between 60-79% of the total labor force in that sector and about 90% of Africans in that sector. The next largest proportion of women were engaged in agriculture. Although women's incorporation took place in large numbers from the mid 1940s, the structure has not remained static as the tables indicate. Table 1 indicates the concentration of African women in particular sec- tors over time. The concentration of African women in domestic service and agriculture presents them with several problems. The domestic service sec- tor which employs mainly women (see Table 11) isolates the individual worker, intenstifies their vulnerability vis-a-vis their employers and makes exploita- tion absolute. It is only in recent years that attempts have been made to organise this sector but the very emergence of different organisations such as the Domestic Workers and Employers Project (DWEP), South African Domestic Workers' Associaton (SADWA), Domestic Workers' Association 48 IVY MA TSEPE CASABURRI (DWA) illustrates the difficulties involved. The conditions that confront these workers and the manner in which they experience their oppression have been documented by J. Cock (1980). But by 1982 it became evident that this is a shrinking sector of employment — partly due to effects of recession (Yawitch, 1983). African women's employment in the rest of the service sec- tor increased significantly between 1973 and 1981. This was because white women moved out of some of the employment sectors such as sales, com- mercial clerks etc.; 'coloured' and Asian women moved out of service areas such as dry-cleaning, shop assistants, etc. and they were replaced by African women. Although African women increasingly entered farm wage labor in their own right, they did so mainly as irregular or casual agricultural workers. But this sector too has been shrinking due to increased mechanization of previously labor intensive activities. (De Klerk 1983). The process of Africanization and feminization of these sectors of the economy were not accidental but were as a result of a conscious search for the cheapest labor as well as household survival needs that demanded more and more wage earners. The labor laws that had excluded these two main sectors of African women's activity from legal organization and bargaining, protective legislation, workmen's compensation etc., reinforced women's vulnerability and powerlessness. This in turn increased women's dependence on males — kin as well as non-kin. The residential and citizenship measures that control their movement (Yawitch 1984) exacerbate these women's vulnerability, powerlessness and dependence which, in turn shapes their con- sciousness of their oppresion. Domestic service and farm labor are also employing significant numbers of 'coloured' women in the Cape. Table 11 indicates their proportion in selected urban areas in the domestic service sector. In Cape Town, in 1970 they constituted almost 70%; that same year they formed between 10.2 - 11.2% of this total sector in the country. Because they have "urban rights" they do not suffer the residential insecurities of African women. The racial attitudes of employers are perhaps less discriminatory. But conditions of ser- vice were found to be extremely poor, and wages extremely low and in some cases lower than those of African women (UCT Wages and Economics Com- mission 1973). The same structures of domination/subordination and racial, class and sexist ideologies that affect African women also affect them. But employers and/or the system have often used measures to divide the two groups. The employers may use the dichotomy of rural (illegal)/urban, African/Coloured, in their deliberate choices of domestic workers as a strategy to divide and rule and hence control these workers at the individual level — a tactic that is especially helpful to the dominant classes. The dif- WOMEN IN THE S.A. STRUGGLE 49 ficulties experienced in organizing these domestic workers nationally (besides those that derive from the isolated conditions of services) are partly due to all these factors. 'Coloured' women's employment in the farming sector increased as their men moved out of this sector. These women's conditions of service have been some of the most abhorrent. Besides extreme exploitation they have been subjected to gross sexual harrassment by employers. Although it is illegal to use the old "tot" system of payment, these women continue to be paid in this manner. Consequently there has been a tremendous increase in the rate of alcoholism among women in this sector. As the table shows, female employment in manufacturing remained cons- tant at 15-16 per cent between 1946-1960. By 1970 it had increased to 19 per cent and by 1976 to 21 per cent. Clearly evident however is the decline in the proportion of white females and the relative constancy of Coloured females. This sector has and continues to be a major source of wage labor for Coloured women. The decline in white females was compensated for by the increase of African and Asian women. This pattern is indicative of the fact that: (a) these small sectors are labor intensive and are in constant search of ever cheaper labor especially the clothing, food, textile and electronics sectors; (b) some of these industries relocated to Border Areas and hence the increas- ed employment of African women (whose labor is even 'cheaper'); (c) the proletarianization of Indian women (who had hitherto not worked outside the home in any significant numbers) as a result of increasing levels of poverty among the group as well as the increasing participation of the Indian petty bourgeosie in manufacturing. The clothing industry is the only industry in which women make up the ma- jority of the work force. The feminization of this sector is closely related to the low wages paid but it is often rationalized by sexist ideologies that refer to women's "nimble fingers" and "working for pocket money". Both have no bases in reality. All these women especially the Africans work because they have to. Though these workers' conditions of service, wages and their organiza- tion in the labor process are much better than those of their counterparts in the domestic service and agricultural sectors, they face numerous problemj. The general working conditions are poor, pay is low, health conditions are at best poor. Though the social nature of the labor activity may facilitate organizations, they are confronted among others with problems such as: (i) trade unions are illegal in Bantustans (Border areas); (ii)that employers will use discriminatory measures in the employment of different racial groups; and ;3sgs50 IVY MATS a S o u r c e : S o u t h A f r i c a n D e p a r t m e n t o f S t a t i s t i c s , P o p u l a t i o n C e n s u s R e p o r t N o . 0 2 0 5 0 4 T o t a l T r a n s p o r t / P r o d u c t i o n U n c l a s s i f i a b l e C o m m u n i c a t i o n , 1 5 9 6 9 7 7 , , 1 2 1 9 1 , 3 2 3 4 2 , 9 4 2 O c c u p a t i o n S a l e s S e r v i c e C l e r i c a l M i n e s A g r i c u l t u r a l A d m i n i s t r a t i v e P r o f e s s i o n a l / T e c h . - 2 , 3 1 2 1 9 2 1 N u m b e r , 1 4 1 2 2 8 9 , , 1 6 3 0 0 9 5 3 1 4 2 5 4 4 1 0 0 0 . 2 0 . 8 0 . 2 8 8 . 4 1 0 . 2 _ %0 1_ . , 1 9 1 9 3 1 9 , , 8 0 8 5 , 3 3 7 3 _1 4 6 2 2 6 1 6 1 0 4 , 2 6 1 , 1 6 5 9 3 5 0 , , 2 4 3 8 5 2 1 9 3 6 N u m b e r 1 0 0 0 . 4 0 . 2 __ 8 6 . 5 1 2 . 7 _ %0 . 2 , 1 1 8 0 1 7 9 , , 4 7 6 0 7 , 8 3 4 5 _3 8 5 1 0 0 . 4 0 . 0 7 -- , 8 3 8 2 8 9 , , 9 7 7 1 3 2 2 2 9 6 4 2 4 1 1 7 . 1 0 0 . 2 7 0 . 1 1 , 9 8 5 , 9 4 7 2 1 8 , 1 4 4 8 2 , 5 5 6 , 3 0 2 4 1 1 0 . 1 0 0 . 4 2 . 0 2 1 2 - , 1 3 9 9 . 0 1 1 9 4 6 N u m b e r , 1 0 1 3 5 5 6 7 1 0 0 2 1 %0 9__ . , 6 6 7 6 1 8 , 4 4 5 4 0 1 5 6 6 . 3 7 7 . , 1 9 2 5 6 0 , 4 9 5 1 6 7 , 3 3 7 2 , 1 0 0 0 2 5 8 , 2 5 4 8 7 1 9 6 0 N u m b e r 2 3 . 0 5 9 1 . 0 . 4 . 0 1 - %3 0 . 8 7 1 , 9 6 8 7 3 0 , 3 4 5 1 7 , 6 6 1 , 5 3 7 9 5 5 , 4 3 1 4 0 1 9 7 0 N u m b e r 4 3 . 9 3 6 8 . . 0 9 . 0 3 V o . 2 7 B y O c c u p a t i o n a l C a t e g o r y E c o n o m i c a l l y A c t i v e A f r i c a n F e m a l e s T A B L E I WOMEN IN THE S.A. STRUGGLE 51 (iii) employers will pit men against women; for example in cases where trade unions have pushed for equal pay for men and women, women have been dismissed. (A. Bird 1985) Moreover women's participation in trade union activity has been curtailed by the household activities women must perform in daily and generational reproduction (social as well as biological) of the family. This gender subor- dination at the household level, presents serious constraints for women's necessary participation in class struggle as well as in the struggle for national liberation. Professional and Petty Bourgeois Strata The position of women within this strata in each racial category is illustrated for different historical periods by tables IV and V. TABLE II Percentage Distribution of Domestic Servants By Race and Sex in Eleven Principal Urban Areas in South Africa, 1970 Urban Area Cape Town Port Elizabeth East London Kimberley Natal Pietermaritzburg Durban Transvaal Pretoria Witwatersrand Free State Bloemfontein Vaal Triangle OFS Goldfields White African F 20.3 72.8 89.0 70.4 M F - 4.2 - 5.3 8.3 - - 12.4 M M Asian Coloured F 68.5 20.9 2.5 14.9 M F - 4.2 - 0.8 0.3 - - 2.3 65.8 59.5 77.1 75.9 80.8 84.3 85.6 33.0 38.8 - - 20.3 22.6 - 0.1 0.1 14.8 13.5 11.7 - - - 0.3 0.7 2.3 - 3.7 2.2 1.8 0.3 0.1 0.3 - 0.7 - 0.9 - - - - - - Source: South African Department of Statistics 52 IVY MATSEPE CASABURRI TABLE III Female Wage Employees in Manufacturing Year Population Group Asian African Coloured White Total % 1 5 36 58 100 1946 1951 1960 1970 1976 % % % (0) (1) (1) (9) 16 2 8 39 51 100 (0) (1) (6) (8) 15 3 17 40 40 100 % (1) (2) (6) (6) 15 (1) 10 (6) 36 (5) 34 (5) 20 7 (2) (8) 29 (4) 39 25 (4) 100 19 100 21 Figures in parenthesis indicate female employment as a % of total manufacturing. Source: South African Yearbook 1985 Industrial Production Sector A sector that employs large numbers of women is the manufacturing industrv The changing racial composition of the female labor force is a result of several factors, among others: (a) a changing structure of the economy (b) racial and sexist ideologies regarding female labor. The major employers of women are the apparel, textiles, food, leather and electronics industries. TABLE IV Managers & Proprietors Bookkeepers Clerks Typists Shop Assistants Hawkers White M African M Coloureds M 18 561 4 764 36 040 71 14 932 992 1 509 3 062 11 183 14 497 15 427 33 818 6 1 756 8 1950 1636 16 1 1 15 126 83 380 26 310 1 1067 2 065 71 18 40 15 251 172 Asian M 5 889 196 1 094 4 5 232 3 137 166 3 15 1 181 339 Based on: Occupational Census, 1936, in UG 11/12, 1942 African men and women in the professional category are located mainly in three areas, teaching, medicine and religion. Women outnumber men in the former two. Salaries, conditions of service and taxation ect are biased WOMEN IN THE S.A. STRUGGLE 53 in favour of men but the differentials are relatively narrow. The differen- tials along racial lines are very significant echoing the arguments by Black feminists as explained before. Among Asians, significant gender differences in participation in professional and in the commercial petty bougeois sec- tors may reflect class position as well as religious-culture that may constrain women's work outside the home and/or the intensity of their subordination at the household level. There is need for investigation of this. Though women of all racial categories are located predominantly within certain sectors, the changing composition of these gender specific sectors along racial lines are also telling as table V shows. TABLE V South African Female Nurses by Racial Category 1946-1970 Racial Category African White Coloured Indian No 3 013 12 086 626 73 1946 % 19.1 76.5 4.0 0.5 No 12 789 20 249 2 660 351 1960 % 35.5 56.2 7.4 1.0 1970 No 24 677 25 075 5 569 887 % 43.9 44.6 9.9 1.6 As the proportion of white nurses drastically declined, that of African nurses significantly increased while that of the other groups steadily rose. While we are not certain why this was the case, it is possible that the increas- ing privatization of health services may be a plausible explanation. The con- ditions of work are not the most pleasant and salaries are not attractive for some members of those groups higher on the racial hierarchy. But one crucial variable in the employment in these gender specific sec- tors, is that government is the main employer. The implications of this for all black women are clearly obvious. As government employees are prohibited from engaging in labor and political organizations, and can more easily be victimized by a repressive government bureaucracy, this can severely con- strain women. Their vulnerability and powerlessness are real. But under the right political conditions these women may indeed be a force that helps to undermine the regime as the Baragwanath nurses' strike, or the positions taken by many teachers during the school boycotts in 1985 suggest. Women's Struggles The preceding discussion focused on tracing historically different women's position and the structural determinants of their oppression. However, women's struggles have also helped to shape their experiences. Women have often acted on their own behalf, separately as well as in conjunction with 54 IVYMATSEPE CASABURRI men. These struggles indicate the different ways women view the intensity of their oppression. The early struggles of women against the passes, (1913) resulted in a more than thirty-year delay in control of their labor via the pass system. Rural women's revolts against the culling of cattle in Natal; against carrying of passes in the Anti-Pass Campaign of 1950's; in the Potato and Bus boycotts; in the Defiance Campaign etc. are indicative of issues around which women seem to organize. These issues affected the daily lives of women and their families. Women's participation in the broader issues was smaller and part- ly due to the fact that the dominant ideologies defined politics as a male arena. But there is need to concretely analyse the nature and extent of women's participation in struggles of resistance against the background described earlier. Victories won in these struggles have not improved women's position per se, as these were later eroded by new and more repressive measures. However we may assume that the historical precedents of women's struggles, have an effect on later struggles. The history of resistance can be built on as recent events in the mass struggles seem to suggest. There is need however to in- vestigate at the concrete level if there are correlations between areas of in- tense political resistance by women and by men in the earlier period and those of widespread women's involvement in the mass struggles today. Women's participation in the broader struggle has definitely increased since 1970. But even as women's participation in the liberation struggle increases, and even as consciousness of women's strategic interests rises, the main focus of attention continues to remain the national liberation. Several factors contribute to this. Among others we could say these were: (a) mass removals that affected more than 3,5 million people of all races between 1960 and 1982 have disrupted the lives of men and women in unprecedented fashion (see Surplus Peoples Project); (b) the Bantustan policies and the crystalization of class interests as well as increasing impoverization in these areas has necessitated the forging of a united domestic/household strategy to meet the onslaught on household and community survival (despite household conflict); (c) the decline in real income for all households and the recent inflation has threatened survivals, e.g. in the clothing industry in 1984 earnings were 22% less in real terms than in 1948. (d) increased unemployment among all the groups is another factor. Employ- ment in the clothing sector went down by a high of 7.5% for Africans to a low of 0.6% for Coloureds. These deteriorating economic conditions have had serious implications at the household level. The various administrative measures that make women dependent on men — e.g. access to urban residency, housing, credit, land, WOMEN IN THE S.A. STRUGGLE 55 etc., all of which are crucial to women — have exarcebated that dependence, and hence the intensity of asymmetrical gender relations at the household level. This is reflected in an increase in abuse of women among all races; (to which increased alcoholism is a contributory factor) the appropriation of women's property via reimposed inheritance laws that do not favor women etc. Women's Oppression Within the Household Women's oppression within the household is not homogeneous either. There are wide variations within and across class, race, ethnic group depending on geographic residence, religion etc. The intensity with which women experience their oppression at this level is affected by various factors such as the extent to which: (a) the sexual division of labor within the household7 has often laid undue burden on women for the reproduction and maintenance of the household on a daily basis as well as generationally; burden on women for the reproduction and maintenance of the household on a daily basis as well as generationally; (b) cultural traditions and oppressive gender ideologies that support and en- force women's oppression and exploitation are reproduced at the household level. The intensity of this oppression may be greater if these traditions and ideologies had their bases under different social and pro- duction relations and are inconsistent with the new relations; (c) women's access (at both the level of society and the household) to those aspects of life that may help to improve their quality of life and their power is denied or circumscribed: productive base, knowledge, educa- tion, health, or income; (d) women's ability to make or participate in decisions about themselves and their families about essential matters. There has as yet been no thorough investigation done of how these dif- ferent groups of women experience gender oppression within the household. Sweeping statements and generalizations have been made but there is need to investigate the exact nature and extent of female subordination and/or exploitation at the household level. For example the role that dowry pay- ment or lobola may play in the subordination of women may vary greatly according to whether the women are urban or rural. Pronouncements on women's subordination in the household have often reflected class and cultural biases. It is often assumed that for example African women, or poor women are more oppressed at the household level. We cannot make such assumptions. We need to establish these by investigation. This is necessary so that we avoid imposing on the poor, the weaker and marginalized women, new forms of oppressions. This investigation is necessary to assist in restruc- 56 IVY MATSEPE CASABURRI turing gender relations within the society and within the household for all groups of women. Soweto and Its Aftermath The Soweto uprising touched all classes and fractions of classes as well as social groupings. It transformed in general people's perceptions of the dif- ferent groups crystallizing more clearly where alliances should be forged. Students among the oppressed groups built bridges across the racist popula- tion categories. Women, in fulfilment of their reproductive responsibility for children, became heavily involved in protection of their children. What may be a weakness was translated into "relative strength" as women sought alliances and support, material as well as emotional, across class, ethnicity as well as race. As political resistance against the regime intensified, the identification of apartheid as a source of women's oppression and therefore focus of attack, has also intensified. Because petty bourgeois and some professional women have become beneficiaries of some of the effects of mass struggles, women's gender subordination has become even more obfuscated. The high visibility of some women leaders in the political arena notably women like Albertina Sisulu and Winnie Mandela and late Victoria Mxenge in their own right, has not made matters easy. When the UDF was formed in 1983, that broad affiliation included numerous women's organizations. These organizations reflect the responses of women to the manner in which they experienced their position and op- pression. While many organizations were started to improve their conditions of life/survival, many others were started to meet the various class, profes- sional, ethnic and cultural needs of the various women. Trade union organiza- tions increased female membership and appear to be paying more attention to the issues of women. As the UDF became more of a vehicle for forging alliances across class, race, culture and ethnicity nationally and the ANC and its Freedom Charter became more generally acceptable to the masses of the people, reactionary opposition to these developments has not lacked its share of women supporters however. A case in point is the growth of the Inkatha Women's Brigade. While In- katha Women's membership is clearly doubtful (due to the extreme pressure put on workers and professional Zulu women to take out party cards) the active involvement of Brigade members in violent acts against non-members reflects the class and ethnic contradictions. As these contradictions develop and mature, and fractions and strata become more defined, the lack of homogeneity among women within race is likely to surface more clearly. But possibilities for building enduring WOMEN IN THE S.A. STRUGGLE 57 alliances in support of or in defence of 'people's' interest among women are likely to increase. Whether these can be translated to serve women's strategic gender interests, however, is another matter. Summary and Conclusions This paper has attempted to show that women's position, their oppression and exploitation is not only historically specific but is specific also in terms of class, race, culture and ethnicity. Therefore in dealing with the question of women an assumption of homogeneity especially within racial categories is fallacious. We must acknowledge differences that derive from the multi- casual nature and extreme variability of existence across class, race, nationali- ty, etc. (Molyneux 1985). The paper has also attempted to show that structural factors have been the main determinants of women's oppression but that women indeed strug- gle against that oppression. It speaks directly to some of the issues raised by Makamure (1984) about parallel "struggles of women workers, peasants . . . and middle class women'' and the ambivalence toward the struggle for women's emancipation by women themselves in Zimbabwe. It also raises im- portant implications for Namibia where there has also been differential in- corporation of women into the market economy as well as differential ex- perience of the prosecution of the national liberation struggle. What these suggest is that under racial hegemony, where capitalist social and production relations dominate, and where women's position within the family and in society is weak and/or insecure, the struggle for women's eman- cipation tends to assume a secondary role. This raises specific questions about the role of liberation movements in restructuring asymmetrical and exploitative relations in general and women's oppression in particular. National liberation movements by their very nature of course draw upon a broad spectrum of the masses. ANC is multi-class, race, ethnic, culture. It does and must draw upon the broad interests and struggles of the majority of people even if it does not initiate them (R. First). But it would be safe to presume that struggle around the woman question, as defined here, should be a necessary constituent of the prosecution of the struggle for national liberation. The very mechanisms by which racial capitalism and white hegemonic classes have achieved national domination, demands that this be a necessary focus, if true national liberation is to become reality. But experience of some societies indicate that such development is not automatic, neither is it easy. It is instructive to compare differences of revolu- tionary societies such as Cuba and Nicaragua. In the former Fidel Castro in 1959 remarked about the racial discrimination and 'silence' about sexual 58 IVYMATSEPE CASABURRI discrimination. But it was not till the 1970s that government took specific measures to address gender inequality. In Nicaragua on the other hand, it was only weeks after the Sandinista victory, that the government addressed the question of sexual exploitation in the media, and female representation in the army cadre, and at different levels of the party in the regions and in the Sandinista leadership (J. Cole 1985 p. 33). Today it is no longer 'taboo' to talk about women's subordination but it is not opportune either. It is imperative that men and women within the liberation movements — ANC and SWAPO — talk about it and spearhead that struggle. It is in particular the women in these movements, as well as those less insecure and less powerless outside of them who must "take the knife by the sharp edge" in the fight for the liberation of women. There will be need for the consolidation and defence of newly won freedoms. Those forces that oppose the restructuring of the new societies will waste no time in seeking out and utilizing weaknesses. Fears and insecurity can be preyed upon and manipulated. Those of women are no exception as the left in Chile so painfully learned when Allende was overthrown. Notes: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. This is not intended to emphasise differences and/or cleavages between groups but to assess the com monalities as well as the differences in order to understand and work future cooperation. For detailed analysis of these see for example W. Bernart: The Political Economy of Pondoland 1860-1930 Cambridge University Press, 1982; C. Bundy: The Rise and Fall of the South African Peasan- try London, Heinemann 1979; T. Keegan: Peasants Capitalists and Farm Labour Class formalin?, in the Orange River Colony 1902-1910. For a discussion of the African Petty Bourgeoisie (see Pallo Jordan 1984). This clearly raises questions of class tension within the Indian population that may need investigation especially whether ethnicity does or does not mitigate these tensions. This speaks directly to some of the issues raised by Bizzoli. The tensions that existed in this sector employment of the time — predominantly black male and white female — and the ideological battles it raised are very well described by the historiographer Charles van Qnselen in his works on the Witwatersrand and explain in part the shift out of this sector bv whit, c women J (especially by males) to trivialize the struggle of women More and more work is being done in this regard by African Women Researchers and the United Nations Com parative work with Latin American and Asian scholars is beginning to reveal the importance'of the analysis and necessity for a serious consideration of this aspect for policy. References: 1. BIRD, Adrienne "Organizing Women Workers" in South African Labour Bulletin Vol 10 No R July-August 1985 pp 76-91. 2. BIZZOLI, L. ' Marxism, Feminism and Southern African Studies, Journal of Southern African 3. COCK, J.' Maids and Madams: A Study in the Politics of Exploitation. Johannesburg: 6 GAISTKELL, D. 7 GINWALA, Frene 8. JORDAN, Z. Pallo 9. LEGASSICK, M. 10. MAKAMURE, N. 11. MARIOTTI, A. 12. MATSEPE, I.F. 13. PAHAD, Essop Indian South Africans Minority Rights Group Report No. 34 London. The African Petty Bourgeoisie: A case study of NAFCOC 1964-1984. ANC Occasional Research Paper May 1984. Legislation, Ideology and Economy in Post 1948 South Africa. In: Murray, M.J. (ed.) South African Capitalism and Black Political Opposition. Cambridge, MA: Scheukman Publishing Co., 1982. "The Women's Movement in Zimbabwe" Journal of African Marxists Issue 6, October 1984 pp. 74-86. Incorporation of African Women into Wage Employment in South Africa 1920-1970. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1979. African Women's Labor in the Political Economy of South Africa and Ph.D. Dissertation Rutgers University New Jersey. WOMEN IN THE S.A. STRUGGLE 59 4. COLE, Jo. B. "Women's Collective Actions in Cuba: Struggles That Continue." 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YAWITCH, Joanne "Women in Wage Labor" in South Africa Labour Bulletin Vol. 9, No. 3 December 1983. "Tightening the Noose: African Women and Influx Control in South Africa 1950-1980" Cargenie Conference Paper No. 82, April 1984.