Culture, tradition and gender : let's talk about it

Abstract

"South Africans often speak about traditional African cultures, Indian culture and Western culture placing emphasis on the differences and distinctions. There is indeed diversity, but during our workshop we observed that we share several cultural similarities with regard to gender-related beliefs and roles. While there are differences in the specific practices, there are gender related features thatour backgrounds have in common; for example, the evidence that women are undervalued and anything associated with women seems to be evaluated negatively. Another common theme is that from an early age women are held responsible for child-rearing and household work."