AZASO: tribute to women

As women in South Africa, it is important for us to understand the nature of our oppression, for it is only after understanding it, can we identify the target of our attack and plan the appropriate strategy and tactics for our struggle. Black women in South Africa suffer three types of oppression. 1. Political oppression, which is common to all blacks in South Africa, ie. the denial of rights to vote for or choose the type of government we want, and the denial of rights as a people in South Africa. 2. Economic oppression as black workers in South Africa. Black women workers are even more exploited than men workers. They are paid lower wages for the same job, are treated as temporary staff and can be fired at anytime especially if they fall pregnant. 3. Social oppression which stems from the idea that women are born inferior to men and therefore have to play an inferior role in society. The socialization process starts at birth and women and men are geared towards certain roles in society. Men most often towards leadership positions and professional jobs and women towards household duties and secretarial jobs. This socialization process continues throughout ones life such that most people accept it as a natural phenomenon and a way of life. Having understood the forms of oppression, we can see that the struggle is not between men and women, where men are seen as the source of our oppression. Nor is it a struggle for mechanical equality between men and women ie. being paid the same wages as men, and having equal status as men in society, because this will mean equality within the present status quo. Our struggle is a struggle between womenand the existing social order. It is a struggle of the oppressed against oppression. Our main weapons in the struggle for liberation are UNITY and ORGANISATION. Unity is realised through common effort, links are forged through collective work and study, through criticism and self-critcism and through action against opression. Organization can be achieved through women's groups and organization. A women's group's first demand should be the clarification of our ideas, to get rid of miscosepts and erroneous ideas concerning the role and liberation of women. A women's group usually tackles the question of social oppresion, but more important, it must be seen as a stepping stone towards involvement in the broader struggle can we destroy the foundations of exploitative society and rebuild society on new foundations. Foundations built on the demands of the FREEDOM CHARTER. “The fundamental struggle is for national liberation of the oppressed people of South Africa, and any women's organization that stands outside this struggle must stand apart from the mass of women. What was realised by the Federation of South African Women was that it would be impossible for women to achieve their rights as women in a society in which so many fundamental rights are denied to both men and women by virtue of their colour and their class. Therefore just as there can be no revolution without the liberation of women, the struggle for women's emancipation cannot succeed without the victory of the revolution"