Heroes: a masculine affair
01/04/2011 # 08:07 # In Press - research # 18 Comments
Dineo Sitole discusses the politics of gender around commemorations of the liberation struggle in South Africa.
Being an active participant in student politics at my university, I feel that the role of women empowerment and consciousness is often downplayed, if not non-existent in our society. Women have been fighting to be placed in the same positions as men and have been striving to be viewed as “equal” to men in votes and career opportunities. This very mediocre and menial goal for women has further subjected them to the second-class citizenship that we have been fighting against for such a long time. As important as it is, it should not be at the core of women emancipation.
Although I feel really uneasy in describing different women in South Africa under the same umbrella. For the sake of my argument, I will do that so please bear with me. Recently, I was reading and researching about our liberation leaders in South Africa. I was extremely surprised to learn about the important role of women in our struggle. I wondered why then do we only sing of Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu and leave out the Charlotte Maxeke’s, Gertude Shope’s, Albertina Sisulu’s and Winnie Mandela’s. Although the men should be revered and appreciated for the sacrifices that they made and the fight against oppression that they engaged in, women themselves should also be revered and remembered. The saying that goes “Behind every successful man, there is a powerful women” is exactly the problem. Women are constantly portrayed as ‘behind’, despite often being the driving forces.
Furthermore, the very act of just placing women in positions for the sake of removing gender inequalities has never solved the problem of inequality. This is the same as placing black people in positions. It has not solved the racial inequalities in our societies. In fact, all it does is to create a different kind of elite. Louis Farrakhan writes that “leadership has to recognize that ‘principles’ more than ‘speech’, ‘character’ more than ‘claim’ is great in the cause of our liberation than what has transpired thus far”. I fully agree with him. The actual principle and character of women emancipation has been lost and has been sidelined. Maybe it is also because in the front line of women empowerment are capitalist women who do not understand the intricacies of working class women’s problems. But then again that is another argument for another day.
Going back to my initial argument, I believe that the celebration of our heroes is a rather masculine affair in South Africa. In Loyiso Gola’s comedy show at the Lyric Theatre, he likened Helen Zille to a man in a dress. She will not herself be able to gain the term hero in South Africa, nor will Khanyi Dhlomo, nor will Basetsana Khumalo or even Gill Marcus because they are not men. When thinking about heroes in South Africa, we all think about the men first because as Melisende describes it in her blog, “the ideological forcefulness of men is so heightened that it is no easy task to remember the names of women revolutionaries”. There is an ideological and mental emancipation that is needed among women and men that is essential to our emancipation as a country. I strongly believe that a country is only as strong as the strength of its weak, marginalized people (not that women are weak).
The media itself play a big role in the propagating of men as the only liberation leaders in South Africa. Even when airing footage the South African liberation struggle, all that the public sees are the men in our land who fought and sacrificed for our country. Viraj Suparsad in his critical analysis of gender relations in South Africa says that “the time of the hero being considered and represented as a saviour of the ‘submissive’ heroine has to end; she does not need him to ride in on his white horse considering the fact that she owns horses of her own”. The essence of this statement is not merely about the ownership processes but the fact that the heroine is just as much of a “hero” as the hero himself.
One thing that black consciousness movements (that I have been exposed to) have suggested is the conscientising of the mind about true African history and also the ability to be a black person without wanting to either assimilate the whiteness or hate the white man. I think this is also essential to women liberation. Women need to know about those matriarchal societies that thrived in Africa. Women need to know who they are in relation to themselves. Women need to fight not just for equal rights. We are human and complex beings. Liberation cannot only be limited to job opportunities or equal voting rights. It has to be more than that. I suggest a woman consciousness. More so a working class women’s consciousness!!!!
Dineo Sitole is a third year student in Media Studies. She is also the chairperson of the Young Communist League at the University of the Witwatersrand. She can be contacted via dineositole@gmail.com.
This entry was posted by 
2nd. great article, particularly like the 2nd and last paragraph.
the second and last paragraph is so deep. maybe were experincing the first steps towards the introduction of a female presidant
however this is the truth. women are subjected to be the body of the moving car hence men are the percieved ones to be the body which catches every eye. however they dont realize that the performance of the body relies on the engine. we as women are the driven courage of the successful men! Amandla!!!!!
Thanks Dineo for a great piece. As I already mentioned to you but in case others might be interested too, there are a few books that seek to reinscribe the role of women into the history of the Zimbabwean liberation struggle. Please check this link to library: http://bit.ly/fXiAmr We are hoping you will give us the South African version at some point!
Also, there has been a very similar critique in relation to the Egyptian protests. Bloggers critiqued the mainstream media’s lack of coverage on the role of women in the protests. There’s an interesting piece here: http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/02/01/protesting-women-celebrated-online/
Al Jazeera also did an interview on the same topic with the famous Egyptian novelist Nawal el-Saadawi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-tTg7iJo0M
thanks for the great piece Dineo.
looking at gender inequality throughout i understand how hard it can be for women nationally to be equalised as men and to fight patriarchy and so forth and i respect you writting about these issues that have been silenced for a long time but what I would like to know is how are you as a chairperson of YCL doing about the dominance of men in Wits politics i.e SASCO, ANCYL, and even YCL itself. when are actions gonna be taken about the inferiority of women and the dominance of men?
dont you think the issue of males still dominating politics in the small branches will still highlight men as the forefront of the struggles, forefront of politics as a whole, as you are arguing that the women activists are not recognised. what actions are there to deal with this unti-revolutional matter.?
drawing on the conclusions of the above article i think that one thing is prevalent in this whole argument, there is a growing need of the history of our societies carrying onto lineages and generations that emerge in present societies, i.e. male supremacy and domination of masculinity. Karl Marx mentions that the role of history is one that allows the progression of the future consequences of society to progress to another form of society in the same society itself, thus my proposal to this will be based on the argument that there is a need to rewrite the history of the role of women in our African societies. just like Biko stressed the importance of creating a new consciousness(our south African history did not start when Jan Van Riebeek landed in the Cape), we need to rewrite a new historical chapter to our name, that is not one that is counter to the existing structures of masculinity, but ones that exist alongside the same levels of recognition, not below or behind as mentioned above, and not from the same hypotheses that created the same male derogatory structures.
great article
Leader!!!!
So true and so well written. Well done.
Dineo you right superbly. In terms of the points you’ve raised they are definitely food for thought both directly linked to the issues you talk about but also on a wider scale in terms of the nature of democracy as we understand it. We link democracy to equality etc and on some levels it succeeds but on other levels its questionable as your argument points out.
Very interesting perception…I really think a lot has been done to empower women and we also should not forget that women being in the background is something thats culturally inscribed in the black nations- hence in most instances during the liberation struggles women just remained home waiting 4 their husbands to return either from exile or imprisonment- honestly I dont think they directly experienced the hostility of the apartheid regime- either than their husbands bein taken away from them…
I think Ayanda’s comment is proof of the importance of this article and the dicussion(s) that should follow across our nation and our continent. Tshidi is right to say that this calls for a joint discussion and “re-writing” of our history as we know it. Its disappointing to read that there are people who sincerely believe that the only reality women dealt with in the struggle for liberation can be reduced down to a “damsel in distress” analogy.
Brilliant work, D!
what an inciteful piece Dineo. . .forward with the women liberation forward!!!forward with feminism forward!
Well thought and equally delivered piece. Speaking to the issue(s) of the visibility of women’s voices across a space and time in a South Africa that is in desperate need for an alternative mode of thought and mobilisation on the various issues of [our] present day contexts; race, gender, class-which in essence remain the underpinning of and translation of the day-to-day mainstream life of a new society that requires collective effort to build, maintain and advance.
Brilliant essay. We first need to understand each other as women – our grievances and struggles as belonging to different races and economic positions then we can present ourselves as a unit to the rest of the world with conviction and understanding. We are divided as women and that is one of the fundamental reasons that men will not take us seriously. We do not know the power we have and that lack of knowledge will set us back until we fully know we are the pillars of society.
I really liked your article, it highlighted a lot of intresting points that I was never aware of until now. I agreed with you saying, “When thinking about heroes in South Africa, we all think about the men first.” It just made me realise how important it is for women of this country especially, need to be conscious.
I also think that this blog is quite insightful as well. The struggle for the liberation of women in a supposed democracy is hardly ever addressed in this manner. So it is quite exciting to engage in such debates wherein instead of passively conforming to societal ideologies, more arguments challenge social injustices against women. such are approaches we need as a country. The woman does indeed play a vital role in the construction of every nation. What a let down it is to see a woman’s existence being viewed as only in relation to that of a man. Our societies are often quite sceptical when it comes to issues pertaining to placing women in positions of leadership. The story of Liberia is qiute encouraging, having Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as the first democratically elected female president in Africa. It also sets a stage for women, portraying them as competent, as opposed to having a turning to, or being inclined to responding to problems in an emotional way. Of course the aim is not just to acquire equality between men an women but to embrace the roles women play in societies.
Great article, but I think it is upon us as women to build one another and identify our hereos out there.
This is the kind of thinking we need, even in countries that that seem to live and preach equality. Thank You.
I second this notion. However, I think it is important to point out that as middle class women who are aware of this marginalization of women in the various spheres of society, we too reproduce the idea of male dominance. We have come to accept that this is the structure of our society. I feel that there is evidence of this in the passive nature of our heroines to accept that that they are the driving force behind the successes of our, and not the force that fights alongside them. This does call for us women to re-evaluate and re-define our role in society and actively put into place practice what we believe and know ourselves to be. Great piece!