Discrimination In South Africa Research Articles

Race-Religious Discrimination in South Africa's Hindu Marriages

South Africa is known historically for racial apartheid when people were classified as white, Indian, Colored, or Black/Native.1 Indians, Coloreds, and Blacks were discriminated against and denied rights afforded to whites. One example was the right to vote, which was withheld from anyone not classified as white.2 What is less well known is that other forms of discrimination also existed, including religion, culture, gender, and sexual orientation. These discriminations manifested in religious marriage laws. They also intersected in the domain of marriage through race and religion, resulting in what Rabiat Akande describes as “mutually imbricated religious and racial othering.”3 Akande's observation that “Euro-Christian foundations of the legal regime of religious liberty” excluded minority religions from legal protections in colonial settler situations resonates in South Africa.4 Apartheid South Africa adopted a colonial European Christianized approach to marriage, namely, the voluntary union of one man to one woman for the duration of the marriage.5 This definition of marriage was embedded within South Africa's common law and entrenched values of heteronormativity and monogamy, both of which are inherent in a Christian understanding of marriage. Consequently, same-sex marriages were excluded from legal protection.6 Similarly, customary marriages and Muslim, Hindu, and Jewish marriages were not legally recognized because they were potentially polygynous, which in South Africa was deemed immoral and contrary to the colonial and apartheid era notions of public policy.7 This essay focuses on the legal implications of Hindu marriages not being legally recognized in South Africa, and especially the disparate effect that this has on women. The essay thus adds a gendered dimension to Akande's arguments about religious discrimination.

Attributes of African Culture: The Problems of Race and Gender Discriminations

In modern decades, sociologists have increasingly adopted an parallel framework to inspect and explain the complex and interconnected nature of inequalities in the areas of race, class, and gender. The land of Africa has suffered tremendously under the rule of the English colonisers. Racism and Gender discrimination in South Africa has existed throughout the history of South Africa. The effects of racism were still felt today, and South Africa had developed the National Action Plan to fight against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Forms of Intolerance. Women are strongly represented and even over represented in the cultural and creative sector, or at least in some fields of this sector. However, despite what one could think when looking at their quantitive superiority in public cultural institutions or programmes of higher education in cultural management and the arts, the creative sector is far from offering equal opportunities for women and men. The barriers found in the creative sector for women are not different from those observed in other economic sectors. This paper aims to discuss some points on Attributes of African Culture i.e. the problems of race and gender discrimination in Africa.South Africa has a painful history of racism connected to the criminal injustices of the apartheid era, which institutionalised oppression against all people of colour.

Addressing vulnerability and exclusion in the South African small-scale fisheries sector: does the current regulatory framework measure up?

Small-scale fishers and fishing communities have long suffered marginalisation and discrimination in South Africa. New laws and policies promulgated as the result of a court case brought by small-scale fishers, NGOs and academics attempt to rectify this problem. Drawing on the poverty-vulnerability-marginalisation framework, the paper considers whether this regulatory regime reduces vulnerability and marginalisation within the sector as an important precursor to poverty reduction initiatives, such as improved rights allocation. While the new regulatory regime is a step in the right direction, the paper ultimately finds that there are shortcomings in these laws, many of which have been thrown into sharp relief by the rights implementation process and COVID-19 lockdowns. These include narrow eligibility criteria for fishing rights, a lack of substantive solutions when it comes to vulnerable groups, processes insufficient to prevent elite capture, and impediments to the practice of alternative livelihoods. These shortcomings must be addressed through the appropriate expansion of access rights, consultation with fishers and more inclusive drafting, if the contribution of small-scale fisheries to development and poverty reduction in South Africa is to be realised.

An application of conversational thinking to the problem of racial discrimination in South Africa

The problem of racial discrimination in South Africa speaks to the question of who is to be included and excluded from South African society. South African society before the advent of democracy structurally and politically was built on exclusionary policies that are disadvantageous to those classified as blacks, colored (mixed raced individuals), and Indians (South Africans of Indian descent), respectively. To unpack the nature of this racial discrimination, I will start by showing how the historical workings of Apartheid policies contribute to the continued problem of racial discrimination in South Africa. I argue that the problem of racial discrimination in present-day South Africa can best be analyzed from new perspectives motivated by the legacies of Apartheid. One such perspective is the value of what I call racial complementarity. I tap into conversational thinking to show how we can rethink the problem of racial discrimination using a different framework other than ubuntu that has failed to adequately address racial discrimination despite its humanistic values. To go beyond ubuntu, one of the ways of addressing racial discrimination would be to cultivate the orientation of racial complementarity. I employed conversational thinking as my preferred methodology for managing the relationship of seemingly opposed variables like the racial lines in South Africa, making it possible for seemingly opposed variables to interact harmoniously and complement one another in ways that dispel unequal and discriminatory treatment of individuals within any society.

Gender wage discrimination in south Africa within the affirmative action framework

The issue of gender wage discrimination and women empowerment has gained a greater deal of international attention. However, gender-based discrimination persists worldwide, depriving women of their basic rights and opportunities. Affirmative action policies have been adopted by many countries around the world as a means to address these inequalities in employment and education while promoting diversity, and redressing historical wrongdoings. Despite some progress made worldwide, however, gender wage disparities remain particularly high in South Africa. Hence, the question remains about whether these affirmative action measures have yet to achieve their intended effects. This study investigates the trends in gender wage disparities by occupation before and after the introduction of affirmative action measures. By conducting an empirical analysis within the South African context, we examine gender wage discrimination within the Affirmative Action Framework by employing a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition model for the years 1997 and 2015, the period for which data are available. The results of the kernel density function, OLS regression and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analyses show that the current gender wage gap present between males and females at different occupational levels in South Africa has declined. This surprising result should, however, not entirely be interpreted as a decline in discrimination per se, but also an increase in the productive characteristics of females over time. Although we cannot pin it down to the affirmative action policy entirely, there are some signs to suggest that the affirmative action policy might have played a role in narrowing the gender wage gap by increasing the productive characteristics of women in specific ways.

Theological dialogue towards ethical restoration in a homophobia-riddled society

Homosexuality and homophobia in South Africa exist side by side. Homophobia is very common in communities and churches. Biblical texts, traditional cultures and politics partner to dismiss, discredit or disqualify homosexuality, but historians and anthropologists have evidence that homosexuality has been around within African cultures for many ages. Christians are divided into two camps. There are those who openly oppose gay rights with citations from biblical texts, claiming that homosexuality is forbidden by God. Others claim that this is poor biblical scholarship and a cultural bias read into the Bible. To these, the Bible says nothing about homosexuality as an innate dimension of personality; as a sexual orientation, it was not understood in biblical times. Despite a progressive constitution and affirming legislation, sexual and gender minorities experience discrimination in South Africa. The church expresses homophobic tendencies by excluding homosexual people from the sacraments, liturgy and ordination. Theology is invited to embark on a journey of dialogue with communities and homosexual people in order for it to be meaningful and relevant and contribute towards social, political and economic empowerment. Through dialogue with the homophobic community, theology can journey out of the continuous hermeneutic circle spanning biblical text, dogmatic traditions and the present, ever-changing historical context. This journey is taken, applying the ethics of faith, hope and love.Contribution: The article invites further research on theological grounds for exclusion of same-sex orientation people from ecclesial rights such as ordinances, liturgy, confessions and ordination.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Nelson Mandela’s Defense Speech I am Prepared to Die

This paper attempts to present a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Nelson Mandela’s defense speech I am prepared to die, which was delivered in 1964 during his trial in what is often called as Rivonia Trial. More specifically, the paper tries to explore the hidden relations of power and ideologies that have been encoded in Mandela’s defense speech. The main research question is: what are the ideological meanings Mandela tries to communicate through his speech, and how are these ideologies conveyed by CDA strategies? The paper draws on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), as discussed in the writings of Fairclough (1989, 2013) and Van Dijk (1993, 2001, 2014). The analysis covers two levels of analysis: the lexical level and the pragmatic level of analysis. Both levels are discussed under the theoretical umbrella of CDA. The paper reveals that Mandela managed, by using specific CDA strategies, to communicate particular ideological meanings that reflect his political stance, as well as his rebellious spirit as the most distinguished revolutionary leader who struggles against racial discrimination in South Africa.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Nelson Mandela’s Defense Speech: I am Prepared to Die

This paper attempts to present a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Nelson Mandela’s defense speech I am prepared to die, which was delivered in 1964 during his trial in what is often called as Rivonia Trial. More specifically, the paper tries to explore the hidden relations of power and ideologies that have been encoded in Mandela’s defense speech. The main research question is: what are the ideological meanings Mandela tries to communicate through his speech, and how are these ideologies conveyed by CDA strategies? The paper draws on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), as discussed in the writings of Fairclough (1989, 2013) and Van Dijk (1993, 2001, 2014). The analysis covers two levels of analysis: the lexical level and the pragmatic level of analysis. Both levels are discussed under the theoretical umbrella of CDA. The paper reveals that Mandela managed, by using specific CDA strategies, to communicate particular ideological meanings that reflect his political stance, as well as his rebellious spirit as the most distinguished revolutionary leader who struggles against racial discrimination in South Africa.

Legal Dimension of Racial Discrimination - Application Models “South Africa and Palestine”

يعتبر نظام الفصل العنصريّ الذي شهدته جنوب أفريقيا، والذي ما زالت تشهده فلسطين، أشد أنظمة الفصل العنصريّ وأكثرها استبدادًا، فالأفريقيون هم أصحاب الأرض المضطهدون على أرضهم من قبل المستوطنين البيض، كذلك الأمر في فلسطين حيث مارست إسرائيل ولا تزال أبشع سياسات وقوانين التمييز العنصريّ ضد الشعب الفلسطيني الذي له الأحقية بأرضه. انتهت قضية التمييز العنصريّ في جنوب أفريقيا، والتي استمرت لأكثر من خمسين عامًا، نتيجةً للاهتمام الكبير الذي حظيت به من قبل الأمم المتحدة، ونتيجة العقوبات التي فرضت من قبل المجتمع الدولي. أمَّا الاحتلال الإسرائيلي لفلسطين فما زال مستمرًا رغم كافة المحاولات لإنهائه. لذلك تسعى الدراسة للإجابة على سؤال محوري هو: ما وضعية التمييز العنصريّ في فلسطين ومقارنته بجنوب أفريقيا في ضوء القانون الدولي والشرعية الدولية بعهودها وقراراتها ومواثيقها؟

Affirmation and Defamation: Zimbabwean Migrant Teachers’ Survival Strategies in South Africa

The largest number of foreign teachers in South Africa come from Zimbabwe and there is some literature on their experiences. The purpose of this article was to explore the survival strategies used by Zimbabwean migrant teachers located in rural schools in one South African province. The current literature does fleetingly reveal that they have experienced discrimination in South Africa but there is a dearth of literature on the survival strategies utilized by Zimbabwean migrant teachers in discriminatory and xenophobic spaces, such as the workplace, in South Africa. This paper was guided by social capital theory and social network theory. The paper is distilled from a teacher migration study which was interpretive and qualitative in nature, adopting a case study research design. In-depth semi-structured interviews and WhatsApp social networking were utilized to generate data from a snowball sample of fifteen Zimbabwean migrant teachers in one province of South Africa where there had been xenophobic outbreaks since 2008. The findings indicated that Zimbabwean migrant teachers survived by excelling in their work but they attempted, where possible, to avoid an acknowledgement of their efforts thus hoping to be inconspicuous in the profession and community, out of fear. They additionally behaved with humility at schools to avoid the germination and spread of jealous tendencies from their local African colleagues which made them prone to risk if and when xenophobia erupted in their communities.

Mental health treatment – Still a Stigma and Concern in the 21st Century Stigma to appear normal, Stigma to keep the family drama invisibleStigma to protect the family honor, Stigma to coerce yourself out of the need for help

People with mental disorders who live in low- and middle-income countries have low access to quality mental health care and are consequently vulnerable susceptible to suffering and incapacitation, human rights abuses, stigma and discrimination, impoverishment, and premature mortality. The more a mentally ill person feels stigmatized; the lower is their self-esteem, convivial adjustment, and quality of life. The aim of the review is to explore the stigma of mental illness and mental heath services in low and middle-income countries. A PubMed and open-access database literature search (English only) was performed using search strings: stigma of mental illness, Ghana's mental health system, community psychiatry in India, mental health awareness in Nigeria, psychiatric stigma and discrimination in South Africa, and stigma and community intervention. Mental health workforce in India is a shortfall of specialist and psychiatric social worker for mental illness; treatment is unavailable or inaccessible even for those who actively seek health care. In Ethiopia, mental health services coverage and financial auspice for people with mental disorders are constrained. In low- and middle-income countries, the causative agent for mental illness in the current decade is still supernatural power or agents and serves as a major barrier to the treatment. The interventions have the potential to reduce stigma in society at large with the appropriate planning and evaluation. Mental health is still a taboo, and no one acknowledges it. The review demonstrates an adaptation to utilize and participate in mental health care facilities remains a policy aspiration, which generally has not been translated into clinical practice.

Examining employment discrimination in South Africa, 1997–2016

ABSTRACTThis study examines employment discrimination by race and gender in 1997–2016 by employing a sample that represents the labour force (excluding informal sector workers, agricultural workers, domestic workers, self-employed and employers) aged between 15 and 65 years. Probit models are conducted to estimate labour force participation, employment and occupational attainment likelihoods. This is followed by the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, and the results indicate that the unexplained component of the white–African employment probability gap reveals a downward trend in absolute terms in 2002–2014, but in relative terms it still accounts for about 50% of the gap in 2016. The unexplained component is most dominant in the male–female employment gap decomposition. While these results suggest that employment discrimination (unexplained component) against Africans and females remains serious, the improvement of education and skills level of the workseekers (explained component) from the previously disadvantaged groups remain crucial to improve their employment prospects.

Mozambican immigrants to South Africa: Their xenophobia and discrimination experiences

We explored Mozambican immigrants’ lived experiences of xenophobia and discrimination in South Africa. Informants were 15 Mozambican immigrants (female = 7, male = 8) living in an informal settlement in Zandspruit, Gauteng Province. They completed open-ended written narratives on xenophobic and discriminatory experiences. Following thematic analysis, we identified three themes to characterise the Mozambican immigrants’ experiences of xenophobia and discrimination: (i) abusive attitudes, (ii) ethnic discrimination, and (iii) scapegoating. The Mozambican immigrants’ experiences of xenophobia and discrimination are consistent with findings from the extant international literature on ingroup/outgroup social strife with real or perceived scarcity of resources.

REVISITING A CULTURE OF TOLERANCE RELATING TO RELIGIOUS UNFAIR DISCRIMINATION IN SOUTH AFRICA (PART 1)

On account of its nature and scope, this article has been divided into two parts. The aim of this work is to explore religious unfair discrimination in South Africa in the context of the imperative of the need to tolerate differences. In Part 1, the importance of tolerance of differences in a secular multicultural society will be discussed. When the expression of religious freedom in the workplace or in greater society conflicts with other fundamental rights, the balancing of these conflicting rights is never a simple exercise. Whilst the adjudication of such conflicting rights may call for the imperatives of rationality, reasonableness, and proportionality to be applied, such conflict cannot only be conceived of in terms of the lens of adjudication. The need to live in a multicultural, secular society overflowing with divergent interests demands a culture of accommodation. This article further examines the fact that whether tolerance is conceived of as “thin” or “thick” tolerance, it is essentially concerned with a situation of forbearance and is not celebratory. In the spirit of commitment to true democratic transformation, it is argued that the need to celebrate differences is more imperative than merely tolerating differences.

Obesity-based labour market discrimination in South Africa: a dynamic panel analysis

Apart from obesity-related health care costs in South Africa, obesity is also seen to have far-reaching effects that seep into labour market outcomes. Using National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS) panel data, this study aims to examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and employment status as well as wage levels of individuals to identify the optimal level of BMI from the labour market perspective in South Africa. Thereafter, the article uses ethnicity-backed obesity thresholds to measure the discrimination obese individuals face on the probability of becoming employed and their wages earned once employed. The econometric analysis uses the OLS probit and tobit regression models as the starting point for analysis. However due to issues of reverse causality, the analysis thereafter utilises a system GMM model to take endogeneity into account. A further Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique is used to derive the discrimination component in the system GMM regressions for obese and non-obese individuals. Finallly, gender-specific analysis is undertaken to investigate whether obesity-related discrimination differs between males and females. The relationship between BMI and employment probability/wages is seen to be non-linear with increases in BMI leading to an increase in the probability of employment and wages up to a threshold beyond which this relationship becomes negative. Based on the system GMM estimation, the optimal BMI for employment probability and wage determination is identified as 30 and 27 respectively. Blinder-Oaxaca estimates show that 90% of the gap in employment status is accounted for by obesity-related discrimination. With regard to wages, obesity leads to a discrimination of 186%. Gen1der-specific Oaxaca analysis found that obese females face discrimination in employment probability of 109% compared to a negative discrimination of −184% for obese males. In determining wages, employed obese females face discrimination of around 73% whereas the discrimination endured by employed obese males is half of this, at 35%. Our findings reiterate that increasingly obesity has adverse labour market implications. Obesity-based discrimination exists in South Africa and is predominantly faced by obese women entering the workplace and continues in the wage determination of both men and women.

Trends in Gender Wage Gap and Discrimination in South Africa: A Comparative Analysis across Races

This study investigates the existence of gender wage gaps across races in South Africa using dummy variables in the augmented Mincerian equation. Having found evidence of gender wage gap, the study then utilizes the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition technique to identify the proportion of the gap in wages that is attributable to pure discrimination between males and females. Lastly, the Juhn–Murphy–Pierce (JMP) method is used to understand the change in wage gap over the period 2001–2007. The results indicate that females continued to earn significantly less than males in the period 2001–2007. The findings of the study indicate that gender discrimination continues to exist, but the gender wage gap has decreased in the period of study mostly because of an improvement in the observed and unobserved characteristics of females in relation to males. However, a race-wise analysis indicates that the narrowing of the wage gap is not uniform across the races. The wage gap has, in fact, gone up for many races with the increase in discrimination coming up as the major reason for it.

Gender-based discrimination in South Africa: A quantitative analysis of fairness of remuneration

Equity is important to most individuals and its perceived absence may impact negatively on individual and organisational performance. The concept of equity presupposes fair treatment, while discrimination implies unfair treatment. The perceptions of discrimination, or being treated unfairly, may result from psycho-social processes, or from data that justifies discrimination and is quantifiable. Objectives: To assess whether differences in post grading and remuneration for males and females are based on gender, rather than on quantifiable variables that could justify these differences. Method: Biographical information was gathered from 1740 employees representing 29 organisations. The data collected included self-reported post grading (dependent variable) and 14 independent variables, which may predict the employees’ post gradings. The independent variables related primarily to education, tenure and family responsibility. Results: Males reported higher post gradings and higher salaries than those of females, but the difference was not statistically significant and the practical significance of this difference was slight. Qualification types, job specific training, and membership of professional bodies did not affect post grading along gender lines. The ways in which work experience was measured had no influence on post grading or salary for either males or females. Furthermore, family responsibility, union membership and the type of work the employees performed did not influence the employees’ post grading. The only difference found concerned the unfair treatment of males, particularly those who were well-qualified. Conclusions: Objective evidence of unfair gender-based discrimination affecting post grading and salary is scarce, and the few differences that do occur have little statistical and practical significance. Perceptions of being discriminated against may therefore more often be seen as the result of psycho-social processes and are not necessarily the result of justifiable differences in education, tenure and family responsibility.

Gender-based discrimination in South Africa: A quantitative analysis of fairness of remuneration

Equity is important to most individuals and its perceived absence may impact negatively on individual and organisational performance. The concept of equity presupposes fair treatment, while discrimination implies unfair treatment. The perceptions of discrimination, or being treated unfairly, may result from psycho-social processes, or from data that justifies discrimination and is quantifiable. Objectives: To assess whether differences in post grading and remuneration for males and females are based on gender, rather than on quantifiable variables that could justify these differences. Method: Biographical information was gathered from 1740 employees representing 29 organisations. The data collected included self-reported post grading (dependent variable) and 14 independent variables, which may predict the employees’ post gradings. The independent variables related primarily to education, tenure and family responsibility. Results: Males reported higher post gradings and higher salaries than those of females, but the difference was not statistically significant and the practical significance of this difference was slight. Qualification types, job specific training, and membership of professional bodies did not affect post grading along gender lines. The ways in which work experience was measured had no influence on post grading or salary for either males or females. Furthermore, family responsibility, union membership and the type of work the employees performed did not influence the employees’ post grading. The only difference found concerned the unfair treatment of males, particularly those who were well-qualified. Conclusions: Objective evidence of unfair gender-based discrimination affecting post grading and salary is scarce, and the few differences that do occur have little statistical and practical significance. Perceptions of being discriminated against may therefore more often be seen as the result of psycho-social processes and are not necessarily the result of justifiable differences in education, tenure and family responsibility.

Heteronormativity, homophobia and ‘culture’ arguments in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Despite a progressive Constitution and affirming legislation, sexual and gender minorities experience discrimination in South Africa. This reflects the ongoing impact of heteronormativity, ‘culture’ arguments and violence in suppressing non-normative sexual and gender identities. In the present study we conducted interviews with eight young, lesbian women and gay men in eThekwini municipality in KwaZulu-Natal province. Three major themes emerged: Language and constructions of gender and sexuality; Experiences of homophobia; and Challenging ‘culture’ arguments. Participants tended to replicate heteronormativity and traditional understandings of gender in their lives; they experienced homophobia and homophobic violence; and they challenged homophobic ‘culture’ arguments.

Psychiatric stigma and discrimination in South Africa: perspectives from key stakeholders.

BackgroundStigma and discrimination against people with mental illness remain barriers to help seeking and full recovery for people in need of mental health services. Yet there is scarce research investigating the experiences of psychiatric stigma on mental health service users in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The aim of this study was therefore to explore the experiences of psychiatric stigma by service users in order to inform interventions to reduce such stigma and discrimination in one LMIC, namely South Africa.MethodsParticipants comprised a total of 77 adults aged above 18 years, made up of service providers including professional nurses (10), lay counsellors (20), auxiliary social workers (2); and service users (45).ResultsPsychiatric stigma was found to be perpetuated by family members, friends, employers, community members and health care providers. Causes of psychiatric stigma identified included misconceptions about mental illness often leading to delays in help-seeking. Experiencing psychiatric stigma was reported to worsen the health of service users and impede their capacity to lead and recover a normal life.ConclusionMedia campaigns and interventions to reduce stigma should be designed to address specific stigmatizing behaviours among specific segments of the population. Counselling of families, caregivers and service users should include how to deal with experienced and internalized stigma.