DANIELLE CLOETE

GRADE 11B
HISTORY ASSIGNMENT
TOPIC: APARTHEID
SOUTH AFRICA 1940-1960
Key question: What role did SA play
the in struggle against apartheid in the 1940s-1960s

DATE:

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What role did women play in the struggle
against apartheid in the 1950s -1960
women played an active role in the campaign of
Defiance against Unjust. Law during which , in
1952,many were arrested . They also helped to organize
the Congress of Democrats , a white organization in
alliance with the ace and the coloured people’s Congress

Apartheid denied African women the right to travel

freely to seek gainful employment, which indirectly
locked them in poverty without an escape route.
Employers often take advantage of women by paying
them lesser wages than their male counterparts,
thereby violating the legal act put in place to protect
worker rights.

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The role played by women in the 1956 pass
campaign helped launch women into the wider
political struggle against the apartheid
government. Women’s participation in the
struggle challenged their conventional roles as
wives and mothers and revealed their potential
strength for the national liberation movement .

Black women faces three forms of oppression in

South Africa during apartheid. This was racial,
sexual and social .women did not play a
prominent role in struggle politics. This was not
out of choice , but because the ANC was reserved
for male membership. In 1943 the ANC allowed
women to join . The ANC Women’s League was
created in 1948 and women members to play an
active role in the struggle in South Africa .

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In 1952 many woman were involved in the
Defiance Campaign. This was a campaign against
apartheid laws, which was publicly broken by the
people and thus offering themselves for arrest.
The idea was to clog the apartheid criminal
justice system that reform would be inevitable.
An example would be a black person to use a
‘white bench, bus, toilet . Woman all over South
Africa joined in this campaign and many ended
up in prison as a result of their actions .

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