Invisible barriers: Attitudes toward women in South Africa

Abstract

South African women are playing an increasingly important role in public life. However, social trends show that gender equity has not been attained. Barriers to the full realization of female potential are intemal and extemal. Attitudes towards women within the particular context of South African society are examined. Sex-role ideology, moulded by the patriarchal character of South African society and concomitant authoritarian norms, is investigated. Attention is given to the vulnerable position of black women whose estate is shaped by a dual discrimination of race and sex. The presence of black domestic workers affects relations between white and black women and impedes the amelioration of conjugal sex roles among Whites. In particular, the position of middle-class white women is described. The effect of religious views on sex roles is discussed as well as the female image propagated by the media. Attitudes towards women within the familial power structure reveal a slowly increasing egalitarianism. Where the absence of an indigenous women's movement is conspicuous, the priority given to racial issues over sexual oppression is not unique; women's rights are often ignored in the face of apparently more pressing issues. It is concluded that attitudes provide innate resistance to change.