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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Overcoming the Sisterhood Myth
Author:Fouche, Fidela
Year:1994
Periodical:Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa
Issue:23
Pages:78-95
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:race relations
class relations
women
Women's Issues
Development and Technology
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Ethnic and Race Relations
Equality and Liberation
Law, Legal Issues, and Human Rights
organizations
Status of Women
External link:https://d.lib.msu.edu/tran/230/OBJ/download
Abstract:Drawing upon American feminist writers' insights, the present author analyses gender in its relationship to race and class, and the relationship between white and black women both in its historical dimension and in the ways it is being perpetuated. Set in South Africa, a country with a multiplicity of cultural, ethnic, race and class groups, she analyses the sisterhood myth, encompassing the myth that women share the same gender, the motherhood myth, the view that black women are 'triply oppressed', and the view that women in general are oppressed. The article shows that these views vary from one social context to another; that the ways women of different classes experience oppression are very different. The article continues by outlining the historical differences between black and white women in the South African context and the role of apartheid in sex oppression. The conclusion is that the tendency to 'white solipsism' and 'white guilt' on the part of white women, and the anger which has been felt by black women, will hamper the building of a women's movement in South Africa. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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