[WA-News] Intersections =?UNKNOWN?Q?=96?= Covering Gender @ the WCAR NGO Forum, Durban 2001

[jradloff at iafrica.com]

Intersections – Covering Gender @ the WCAR NGO Forum, Durban 2001
Issue 3 – Part 3
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In this Issue:

1.Roundtable on Gender, Race and Exclusion
By Sonja Boezak, from BRIDGE, member of APC-Africa-Women

2. Fighting Racism in an African Context: Women Speak Out 
By Nothile  Mcanyana

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Roundtable on Gender, Race and Exclusion
By Sonja Boezak, from BRIDGE, member of APC-Africa-Women

This roundtable was a space to tell personal stories and share personal 
experiences around exclusion, gender and race. The conversational tone and 
informal nature of the discussion made it possible to have a more open 
discussion on what could easily have turned into an academic exchange. 

Susanna George, of Indian origin, grew up in Malaysia where her home is, and 
works in the Philippines. Her story highlighted both her experiences as an 
Indian immigrant living in Malaysia, and the different intolerances experienced 
in Manila, where she works. 

“There is a veneer of equality and sameness in Malaysia which means that 
difference is cancelled by pretending that races do not exist,” says George. 
This blanket of sameness makes it almost impossible to name the racism and 
levels of exclusion, she says. 

Speaking of exclusion, she calls hers a “self-expulsion” from uncomfortable 
spaces. Her Indianness was something to be embraced within her home, but she 
has never thought of herself as something other than Malaysian. George’s story 
also touches on how she is viewed when she travels – that it is impossible for 
people to look beyond her skin colour, or features, labelling her as Indian. 
She no longer fights it, and embraces this “bridged identity”

Questions of identity and a sense of belonging drove her to finding spaces 
where she would feel included. Choosing a feminist space over the imposed 
spaces and identities of community and church, was part of her “self-expulsion” 
but did mean that she would remain an outsider to the communities she broke 
with.

Picking up on this strain, a black South African woman shared her experience of 
having gone to a ‘white’ school and the difficulties of straddling her home and 
school spaces. At school she was acceptable because she sounded a particular 
way, at home she was unacceptable for the same reason. Her exclusion was not 
chosen, but imposed – not being black enough for home, or white enough to fit 
into the school or public experiences. 

 “How do I live inside my skin?” was the question Jennifer Radloff started 
talking to. She spoke of why it is difficult to speak of whiteness in South 
Africa in the post-apartheid era. “During the 1980s and before, it was easier. 
You knew where you fitted in as an anti-apartheid activist,” says Radloff. Now, 
outside of that role, the present leftist activists can be perceived to be 
inauthentic and patronising. This is something that Radloff has found 
particularly difficult – finding a way of behaving or being that lets people 
know that she is real; or for others to find a way of looking beyond her skin 
colour. 

This conversation around being identified or labelled on the basis of skin 
colour triggered similar experiences for women from other parts of the world. A 
Hungarian woman working in the United States spoke of her experiences of 
an “imposed white privilege” which she acquired in the US. 

A young woman, seemingly of Korean origin has been found acceptable in certain 
spaces and communities on the basis of her appearance, and the assumptions that 
go with that (of history, belonging, cultural identity). She relates it 
as “farcical”, since her adoptive parents are Italian Americans and her 
cultural references, history and sense of belonging have been based on that 
reference. 

Interestingly, stories related to gender took second place to that of race. The 
two central experiences focused on questions of colour, race, and personal 
identity. Although there was brief reference to feminism and feminist 
approaches, the more prominent discussion was about race, and to some extent 
class and social status. Looking at comments from conference goers, and 
listening to other conversations, it seems that the first point of call is that 
of race and social position as markers of discrimination and intolerance; and 
that we still find it hard to highlight gender even in ‘safe’ spaces. Some 
other strands of the conversation included some reference to feelings of shame 
and fear as it relates to ‘breaking a certain mould’. 
This roundtable was organised by BRIDGE, a gender and development research and 
information unit based at the Institute of Development Studies at the 
University of Sussex.
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Fighting Racism in an African Context: Women Speak Out 
By Nothile  Mcanyana


The Ilitha Labantu, a community organisation based South Africa, held its 
second workshop in the Embassy Building in Durban to discuss the issue of 
violence against women and children.

Women stood up relate their different experiences of racism.  These women are 
confident that working together and breaking the silence will assist their 
communities.  They also believe that they are powerful and can accomplishing 
their objectives with God’s help.  

What they believe is: if God never sold their souls he will never do that now, 
that is why they begin by praying before doing anything.  What they emphasize 
the most is giving support to all those who are affected by racism .

The first woman to stood up and talked about her experience was Nombuyiselo 
Nomdaka from the Western Cape.  She grew up living with her grandparents 
because her mother had left after discovering her father had another two wives 
and children.

She got married when she was 16 years old and had seven children.  Her husband 
left her and she had to go out look for a job.  She found a job as an assistant 
in a surgery and later the doctor told her his wife was looking for a domestic 
worker.  “I decided to take the job in 1972 and I only earned R95 a month and 
[as] the time went on I ended up earning R55 a month.”

One could tell from her voice and the facial expressions how Nombuyiselo is 
devastated because at times she will stop and you will see the tears falling 
down from her eyes.  Her story continues: one day she received a phone call and 
in the presence of the wife’s doctor, spoke Xhosa.  

The wife called her names and even called her a “Kaffir”.  The doctor had told 
Nombuyiselo before that she must not tell the wife that she speaks Xhosa.  
Since then she had to eat on a different plate and was not allowed to come to 
the house wearing her clothes but she had to wear a cleaning overall the wife 
had bought.  She was also not allowed to feed the “madam’s” baby without 
washing her hands using spirits and was not even allowed to sit on a chair.

Most women shared the same experiences of racism. Patricia Steady, the second 
woman to speak out, from the National Association of People with Aids (NAPWA) 
was diagnosed with AIDS in 1992.  She says she came together with other women 
and formed NAPWA to educate and support those infected with the virus.  “We are 
doing this because were not lucky enough to be counselled after discovering our 
situation. I was just told that I will die within six months but even today I 
am still alive and you can’t tell that I’m HIV positive.”

She concluded by encouraging women to come to them for support and fight 
discrimination and oppression in their communities and in society.  She also 
called for education for our children HIV/AIDS.

Mrs Cele from Eastern Cape originally from Port Elizabeth now in Monti was 
arrested in 1964 .  When she was arrested it was very cold. When the police 
took her she was not wearing anything warm.  Her sister tried to her give a 
jacket but the notorious Special Branch policemen threw the jacket away and 
dragged her into a van.   She was arrested with other women and men as early as 
2am in the morning.

The police denied their presence in the prison and said they were moved to 
another prison when their families came the following day.  One could here the 
pride in her voice when she said: “I was the youngest and they wanted me to be 
a spy but  I could  not sell my nation.   The Boers had 48 years in power and 
they will never love you (Blacks) again.  They will never understand because 
they never experienced the pain.  I feel sorry for the youth because they are 
used by the Boers through crime. “
 

Thandi Memela who stood up next with a powerful voice saying “wathinta abafazi 
wathinta imbokodo uzakufa” ( “you have touched the women you struck a rock) and 
all the women shouted the slogan with her. Thandi started by saying racism is 
worse than cancer and AIDS because those infected with these diseases are given 
love and support and feel peace.

Thandi was born in Clairwood South, a squatter camp. Her family was multi- 
racial, but because of her surname she had to leave the area, “According to the 
Boers a black child is not suppose to be in white schools.” 

She then went to Lamontville Hgh where they were harassed by the Special Branch 
police she had to leave again.   Thandi asked the women what were doing to make 
sure that by the time they leave this world their children will have something 
to look forward to.

“ I was refused by the Boers to bury my own son but I have one belief that my 
son died for the nation.  How do you forgive a person who does not feel sorry 
for what he did. Youngsters fight for your freedom because we are dying.”

The aim of the Ilitha Labantu workshop was to heal the scars of racism caused 
by the apartheid regime.  
[End Issue 3 Part
3]

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