Equality versus Authority: Inkatha and the Politics of Gender in Natal

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Periodical article

Title:	Equality versus Authority: Inkatha and the Politics of Gender in Natal
Author:	Hassim, Shireen
Year:	1990
Periodical:	Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies
Volume:	17
Issue:	2
Period:	December
Pages:	99-114
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	political parties Inkatha Freedom Party women politics Ethnic and Race Relations Cultural Roles Equality and Liberation Law, Legal Issues, and Human Rights Politics and Government
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1080/02589349008704934
Abstract:	The political programme of Inkatha (Natal, South Africa) contains contradictions. The movement presents itself as a modernizing, liberalizing force while simultaneously developing a conservative, precapitalist ideology to retain its rural political base. These tensions are exemplified in Inkatha's attempts to engage women politically. Two instances are examined: the replacement of the Natal Code of Bantu Law by the KwaZulu Code, which removed the minority status of African women in law; and the efforts in the early 1980s to use the Inkatha Women's Brigade to pacify the youth in the face of school boycotts. These two instances are intended to underline a key argument of this paper: the analysis of Inkatha's construction of 'women' as political subjects is a necessary element in a comprehensive understanding of the wider politics of the movement. Bibliogr., notes, ref.