Abstract:
Feminist scholarship in
various disciplines has shown that women tend to internalise dominant social and religious
discourse with regard to their lesser worth and value as human beings and members of
society. The focal point of this article is to demonstrate how the place and role allocated
to women, specifically in marital relationships, can be experienced as harmful. This article
makes use of the life history research method in combination with the emancipatory analysis
model of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza in order to demonstrate this. Interviews were done
with five women of the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa, a fairly conservative and
traditional Afrikaans speaking South African faith community. In spite of having lived with
this mindset all of their lives, the women were able to express in which ways they experienced
the dominant discourse as harmful. If social and religious views devalue a certain group of
people, transformation is required. In the case of women, respectfully listening to their life
stories and experiences can contribute to their own healing as well as to the transformation of
their social and religious environment and the practice of the church.
