Civil Society in South Africa: Learning from Gender Themes

bibliographic database
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Periodical article

Title:	Civil Society in South Africa: Learning from Gender Themes
Author:	Hirschmann, David
Year:	1998
Periodical:	World Development
Volume:	26
Issue:	2
Period:	February
Pages:	227-238
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	gender relations political systems Women's Issues Politics and Government Law, Human Rights and Violence
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(97)10021-3
Abstract:	The author uses gender concepts and women's perspectives to inform and challenge established understandings of civil society. Based on fifty-six interviews with mostly black women from lower income groups in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, carried out in 1993, the study reaffirms the interconnectedness of the public and the private domains and of women's strategic and practical interests. It also demonstrates women's distinct contribution to civil society and the relevance of violence to an evaluation of civil society. The findings suggest how a gendered approach may contribute to assessments of civil society in ways that go beyond gender concerns. For example, narrow State focused definitions of civil society exclude not only women's but most non-elite associational life. Such definitions undermine the efforts of disadvantaged people struggling to exercise modest influence in their communities. Bibliogr., sum.