Gender Ideology and Township Politics in the 1980s

bibliographic database
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Periodical article

Title:	Gender Ideology and Township Politics in the 1980s
Author:	Seekings, J.
Year:	1991
Periodical:	Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity
Issue:	10
Pages:	77-88
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	protest women politics organizations Politics and Government
External link:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10130950.1991.9675138
Abstract:	During the 1980s political organization, protest and conflict occurred on an unprecedented scale and duration in South Africa. A close examination of the organizations and protests involved shows a relatively low participation of women. The author examines the involvement of township women in political organization and activity during the 1980 uprisings, drawing primarily on the fragmentary material contained in existing secondary sources. He examines the forms of political organization and action in which women were and were not involved, suggesting that there are important shifts in the pattern of women's participation, and that these were related to general changes in township politics in combination with the constraints imposed by patriarchal gender ideologies and, to a lesser extent, the division of domestic labour. The article shows that women mobilized extensively over a range of civic issues, but were largely 'demobilized' as township politics came to revolve around violent confrontation. Bibliogr., notes, ref.