Gender relations and patriarchy in South Africa\u27s Transkei

This dissertation explores the nature of gender relations and their significance within Transkei society in South Africa. It focuses on how gender inequality is a process embedded in the social, economic and political fabric of Xhosa society in Transkei, and straddles the productive and reproductive realms. The study also looks at the extent to which gender inequality and patriarchal domination are incorporated into all spheres of the Transkei culture both ideologically and practically. A central claim of this study is that gender plays a key role in determining the ways in which men and women participate in economic, social and political activities. Men\u27s and women\u27s lives are socially and culturally structured in different ways and therefore male-dominated state policies and programs affect them differently and provoke different responses from them. In determining the ways in which men and women participate in economic, social, and political activities, a framework that stresses the dialectical interplay between patriarchal ideology in the home and and the labor market is developed. This framework allows me to examine the changes occurring in household and labor market relations, and the resultant contradictions and tensions within Transkei society as both men\u27s and women\u27s actions negotiate, maintain, challenge and redefine existing social structures. At the same time this framework maps Transkei\u27s women\u27s position both historically and in the present, and portrays them not as passive victims, but as active social actors who contribute to the historical changes and are in turn affected by them. Two rural villages in Cofimvaba district, Transkei, were selected for the study: Magwala, a predominantly Christian educated community, and Mangweni, a traditional non-literate community. The households in the latter community are the poorest and still practice some of the old Xhosa customs, while the households in the former community vary widely in wealth and economic activity