Date of Award

Spring 2021

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Historical & Political Studies; College of Arts & Sciences

First Advisor

Dr. Jennifer Riggan

Abstract

Alarmingly, the female murder rate in South Africa is five times the global average (BBC News 2019). According to data from 2017 and 2018, a woman is murdered every four hours in South Africa (Wilkinson 2019). More than 30 women were killed by their spouses in August 2019, and at least 137 sexual offenses are committed per day in South Africa (Francke 2019).

For this thesis, and in order to understand why South Africa has some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world, I consult a number of scholars who conclude that the overall issue of gender-based violence against women in the region needs to be put into the context of colonization and history of apartheid in South Africa. This thesis argues that the European colonization of South Africa brought over and established patriarchal ideologies in South African society, thus creating systemic and internal inequalities for South African women that continue today, specifically in the form of gender-based violence. I demonstrate that Western patriarchal ideals were transferred to colonized society during the European colonization of South Africa by presenting a historical case study of British patriarchal values in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Second, I provide examples of pre-colonial African gender roles, in order to contrast the agency and power that indigenous women and girls possessed prior to European colonization. Finally, I analyze how the transmission of colonial patriarchal values happened to South Africa by the European domination of the region and subjugation of indigenous peoples in order to connect the European patriarchy to modern gender inequalities, specifically gender-based violence.

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#AmINext: The Link Between European Colonization and Gender-Based Violence in Contemporary South Africa

Alarmingly, the female murder rate in South Africa is five times the global average (BBC News 2019). According to data from 2017 and 2018, a woman is murdered every four hours in South Africa (Wilkinson 2019). More than 30 women were killed by their spouses in August 2019, and at least 137 sexual offenses are committed per day in South Africa (Francke 2019).

For this thesis, and in order to understand why South Africa has some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world, I consult a number of scholars who conclude that the overall issue of gender-based violence against women in the region needs to be put into the context of colonization and history of apartheid in South Africa. This thesis argues that the European colonization of South Africa brought over and established patriarchal ideologies in South African society, thus creating systemic and internal inequalities for South African women that continue today, specifically in the form of gender-based violence. I demonstrate that Western patriarchal ideals were transferred to colonized society during the European colonization of South Africa by presenting a historical case study of British patriarchal values in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Second, I provide examples of pre-colonial African gender roles, in order to contrast the agency and power that indigenous women and girls possessed prior to European colonization. Finally, I analyze how the transmission of colonial patriarchal values happened to South Africa by the European domination of the region and subjugation of indigenous peoples in order to connect the European patriarchy to modern gender inequalities, specifically gender-based violence.