The transnational factor: The beginnings of South Africa’s women’s movement
Abstract
The South African women’s movement had its origins in the Cape, but it
also had a strong transnational relationship with countries such as the United
Kingdom and the United States. The earliest formally created women’s
organisation in the country, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU), established in 1889, focused on forging a pure society that was
liberated from the so-called constraints and perils of liquor. By 1892, the
WCTU had formed a franchise department in response to the absence of
female enfranchisement in the Cape, therefore promoting women’s national
and international suffrage. The WCTU encouraged the establishment of
other women’s organisations such as the Women’s Enfranchisement League
(WEL) in 1907, which was solely dedicated to the promotion and creation of
women’s suffrage. This article aims to understand the international links of the
WCTU and WEL as the first two women’s organisations in the Cape Colony.
It does so through the framework of transnationalism and also considers the
transnational influence on further developments in South Africa’s women’s
movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Party politics jeopardised the credibility of the Women’s National Coalition for Afrikaner women in the organisation.
Maritz, Loraine (School for Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus, North-West University, 2011)• Opsomming: Die Women’s National Coalition (WNC) is in 1992 amptelik gestig en was ‘n inisiatief van die African National Congress Women’s League. Die doelwitte van die WNC was om inligting oor vroue se behoeftes en ... -
An unlikely union. Exploring the possibilities of Afrikaner and black women’s organisations cooperating in the Women’s National Coalition, 1991-1994.
Maritz, Loraine (School for Basic Sciences, Vaal Triangle Campus, North-West University, 2014)Die Women’s National Coalition (WNC) is in 1992 gestig om gelykberegtiging vir vroue in demokratiese Suid-Afrika te verseker. Inligting oor vroue se behoeftes en aspirasies sou ingesamel word en in ‘n Vrouehandves saamgevat ... -
Biblical counselling for spiritually wounded women who suffered the 1994 genocide : a case study of Rwandese women between ages 35-55, living in Kibuye
Banyanga, Jean D'Amour (North-West University, 2008)This study was prompted by the remarkable need for pastoral counselling for wounded Rwandese women. Many women that survived the 1994 genocide in Rwanda had been widowed, raped and beaten, had cut their arms and legs, had ...