‘A Bit on the Side’?: Gender Struggles in the Politics of Transformation in South Africa

Abstract

engaged in a creative dialogue to formulate policies to effect the transition to a 'post-apartheid' state and to adopt forms of organization and strategy consistent with and complementary to such policy. Until recently, however, a consideration of gender has been lacking in this exciting debate.' This is not simply the result of a dominant androcentric discourse, but must also be attributed to gaps and shortcomings in the analysis of women's oppression in South Africa. We argue that the way in which political organizations have conceptualized women's oppression and their role in struggle has limitations. This has implications for the way in which women participate in struggle, for the way in which women's interests and needs are addressed in the course of struggle, and for development policy in a 'post-apartheid' future. This paper is a constructive critique of the 'woman question' position, which has been adopted by the progressive movement in SA. This position is broadly based on the classical socialist position on women's oppression, namely that women's oppression will be eliminated in the course of the transition to socialism. In strategic terms, this involves women's concerns being subordinated to, rather than included as part of, struggles to achieve socialism in SA. Where the emphasis is on national liberation, women's struggles are likewise subsumed. We offer, as an alternative, a socialist-feminist position which sees women's struggles as a legitimate and integral part of broader struggles, which tranform not