Feminism and democracy: women engage the South African State

Albertyn, Catherine; Hassim, Shireen

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Title:	Feminism and democracy: women engage the South African State
Editors:	Albertyn, Catherine Hassim, Shireen
Year:	2005
Periodical:	Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies (ISSN 0258-9346)
Volume:	32
Issue:	2
Pages:	159
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	feminism gender inequality State-society relationship women's organizations women's rights
External link:	https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cpsa20/32/2
Abstract:	Since 1994 considerable gains have been made in recognizing and institutionalizing women's human rights in South Africa. New legislation and regulation is intended to ensure that women are treated fairly in procedural terms within the State and in society. At the same time, violence against women and children has risen to alarming proportions, poverty has become increasingly feminized and the HIV/AIDS pandemic has hit women particularly hard. These mixed developments raise important academic and strategic questions for feminists. To what extent does the South African experience change the way in which feminists understand the State and the strategic possibilities for engaging the State in a project of gender equality? What are the costs and benefits of treating gender as a technical variable in policymaking rather than as an always-contested political category and a contingent identity? In what ways has women's citizenship been constrained by the socioeconomic structuring of gender inequality? How sustainable are the formal gains made in constitutional and legal terms, and to what extent are these impacting on the daily lives of most women? These are some of the questions addressed in this special issue. The articles cover both macrolevel analysis of the State and the women's movement (Shireen Hassim; Natasha Erlank on ANC positions on gender; Catherine Albertyn on the role of the courts; Sheila Meintjes on the Commission on Gender Equality), as well as microlevel analysis through case studies of the implementation of formal gender equality provisions in different policy arenas (Beth Goldblatt on the Child Support Grant; Lisa Vetten on the Domestic Violence Act; Cherryl Walker on land reform). [ASC Leiden abstract]