GENDER VOICELESSNESS AND VIOLENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE INNER HYPOCRISY OF MORAL AMBIGUITY

Abstract

This article sets out to grapple with gender equality, a principle that is enshrined in the South African constitution, but one that has become riddled with self-deception and that now calls into question the integrity of this very human right. It appears that the provision of gender equality had become a source of distorted reasoning, deliberate violence and self-directed immorality; the concept is thus engulfed with abhorrent evils in the form of domestic violence, the ‘corrective rape’ of lesbians, sexual abuse, and women and girl trafficking. This article proposes to examine why gender equality in reality threatens women’s human rights, and renders women voiceless in many areas of their lives. It sets out to ascertain what underlying cultural and social moral forces undergird the violent behaviour that still renders women inferior and insignificant and whether the actual provision of gender equality had become an incentive for gender-based violence. It intends to show that, despite South Africa’s sophisticated constitution, the ‘A Luta Continua’ for women is still a disturbing reality since it is entangled with the inner hypocrisy of cultural and religious moral ambiguities.