South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country located on the southern extremity of the continent of Africa. The country is bordered by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, and has Lesotho, a small, mountainous country, landlocked within its borders. South Africa has a lengthy coastline fringed by both the warm Indian Ocean and the cold South Atlantic Ocean, and although the climate is generally temperate, temperature varies throughout the country.

South Africa is home to more than 50 million people and is recognized for its diversity of language, culture, and religion (earning it the nickname of “The Rainbow Nation”) but also for its tumultuous political past. Following nearly 300 years of colonial rule, the policy of apartheid, which determined rights and privileges to all citizens based on racial classification, was endorsed by the ruling white minority from 1948 until 1994.

This policy relegated all individuals who were classified as non-white to the status of second-class citizen. Embodied within the policy of apartheid was the ideology of segregation, referred to as separate development, which meant that access to public transport, state schools, hospitals, residential and public facilities, and indeed even cemeteries was defined on the basis of race. Women classified as black or African [Page 1379]faced a double-pronged oppression: By virtue of race and gender, African women were subjugated and denied access to urban areas in which their husbands frequently worked as migrant laborers, and they were regularly denied access to employment on the grounds of both race and gender.

Despite the demise of apartheid and the remodeled South African constitution of 1996 being heralded as one of the most democratic and progressive constitutions in the world, in that it recognizes 11 official languages and provides legal protection for women from rape, domestic violence, and discrimination, momentous changes in the nation's legislation have not brought about significant changes to the majority of South Africa's population. Notwithstanding cultural and linguistic heterogeneity, patriarchy is a dominant cultural standard throughout South Africa, and although in the contemporary era the gendered status quo has theoretically been leveled, many women still face widespread discrimination, persecution, and violence. Shared cultural norms of many groupings within South Africa specify that women belong to the lineage into which she has married, and practices such as “bridewealth” (the payment of cattle, or in the contemporary era other material commodities, from the family of the groom to the family of the bride) and “levirate” (a man's wife being required to marry her deceased husband's brother) ensure continued control over women and their fertility.

The Impact of HIV/AIDS

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• 1GOAL will help by ensuring that people are aware of it and ensuring that – it’s getting the funding that’s necessary to support the education, but also that in countries where they are setting budgets – in Africa for example – that those governments say, ‘Okay, we’re determined to get all our children into school’.
• A lack of education, or access to education at least, has been something that Africa continues to grapple with, and just the fact that the world is able to get involved and help Africa along in this campaign is wonderful.
• [Clips of children in school]

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• Training for one of the biggest adventures of their lives – footballers from the Chosen FEW, a group of lesbian women from Johannesburg’s townships, are just a month away from competing in the 2010 Gay Games in Germany. But the real battle for these young women is right here in their hometown, where being gay is far from easy. South Africa outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation and is the only country in Africa to authorize same-sex marriages. Everyday reality, though, is very different.
• The problem is that you have such powerful forces of homophobia, particularly coming from religious groups – from the churches, from other religious groupings, and also from very powerful sorts of arguments around culture and the un-Africanness of homosexuality – that it’s very hard sometimes for us to know how to even reach that younger generation before they grow up with the same prejudices.
• In the face of constant discrimination in the townships, gay pride marches have gained ground, especially since same-sex relationships were legalized in 1994. The more recognition, the more confidence young gay women have to come out.
• People are starting to come out now. Then, you couldn’t come out because we were not legal, and because of some other issues, you know, but now, it’s because people are starting, you know, to own their own lives. I’m gay – so what?
• But the reality is that being out and proud is a dangerous business in South Africa, especially if you’re black. Instances of rape against lesbian women are common, contributing to the figure of half a million rapes recorded in South Africa each year. Tidi[?] was recently attacked and beaten for being a lesbian, and is too afraid to press charges.
• Every two seconds we feel scared of walking at night, because you don’t know if you’re going to be attacked, or if you’re going to be raped for being lesbian, you know, so it’s not easy. When you get here, you feel comfortable because you know these people won’t judge you for who you are – they won’t assault you for who you are, because we show defiance towards – we come from, and stuff like that.
• The Chosen FEW can at least confront discrimination and the constant threat of violence together, and while bringing back a medal from Germany may not change their world, it may encourage more women like them to at least take a stand.

In South Africa, the dawn of democracy coincided with the rise of human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). South Africa presently has the highest absolute number of people living with HIV of any nation in the [Page 1380]world, and approximately 25 percent of all pregnant women are infected with HIV. HIV/AIDS rates are showing no sign of abating, and the local epidemic has placed insurmountable care challenges on the shoulders of women. In South Africa, as is typical in the entire sub-Saharan African region, HIV/AIDS is a gendered disease, with women more likely to contract the disease than their male counterparts as a result of their biological makeup, coupled with sociocultural and economic vulnerability. The growing number of orphaned and vulnerable children in need of care as traditional prime-age caregivers succumb to the disease has thrown the effectiveness of the extended family safety net as the first line of defense against the disease into question.

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