M.A. / Five years after the first democratic elections were held in South Africa and the "death" of Apartheid, it might be a good time to look back and ask questions about the impact of Apartheid on the black family. It is generally accepted that Apartheid had only negative consequences, This study does not doubt these negative consequences, but finds it important to investigate the ordinary black family's experience of Apartheid. Therefore this study focuses specifically on the black family and the influence of Apartheid thereon. For black South Africans, the period between 1948 and April 1994 ; was a time of discrimination and segregation on all levels of everyday life. Apartheid meant that your skincolour determined the place where you would live and which facilities would be available to you. During the rule of the Apartheidsregime, urbanisation of especially black people, took place at a fast rate. Black people moved to cities, mainly in search of a better future because of the poverty in the rural areas. Arriving in the city, black people were met with many difficulties. In terms of the Apartheid policy, black people were not seen as South African citizens and were not recognised as permanent residents of urban areas. Therefore no provisions were made for housing of black people. As a direct result of this, overpopulation of shacks soon took place and entire settlements turned into slums. Another result of Apartheid and urbanisation was labour migration. This meant that at first, mainly black men entered into employment in urban areas for prolonged periods of time while, out of necessity, leaving their families behind in rural areas. The aforementioned had a serious impact on the black family as a unit. The traditional black family characteristically has an extended family structure. This implies that a parent-child relationship extend and two or more generations live together as one unit. For the past thirty years, family structures across the world have been moving towards a nuclear family structure. In 1994, 59% of urban black people were still involved in an extended family structure. However a debate still rages whether the family is in fact changing to a nuclear family structure or not. For purposes of this study it is accepted that the black family is currently evolving away from an extended family structure and is constantly undergoing change toward a nuclear family structure. In order to ascertain the impact of Apartheid on the black family, this study sets out to answer the following three broad questions: The respondents were questioned at length about their perceptions of their childhood. These perceptions gave insight into the experience of everyday life of black people during Apartheid. The second question evolved around the respondents' perceptions of their relationship with their parents. Once again this gave insight into the dynamics of the black family and the influence of Apartheid thereon: Finally, the respondents were questioned about their personal experience of Apartheid in general. In order to answer the above-mentioned questions, a qualitative research method was followed: In-depth interviews were held with twenty respondents living in the Gauteng area.

This study on “Some Gendered Practices in a Zulu Family: A Feminist Perspective” investigated gender bias, gender inequality, and gender stereotypes as seen in daily gendered practices happening within the Zulu family. The practises examined are confined to the domain of the Zulu culture, particularly the Zulu marriage. The four main research questions put surveillance on how married women are restricted to move freely on the premises of their own homes; how women can unhappily find themselves in a polygamous marriage; how a wife’s dignity can be denigrated due to a man’s lack of understanding of her body anatomy; how she can be denied equal status with her husband due to certain cultural beliefs and conceptions. In the face of inevitable change that influences human behaviour, this study sought to show that the Zulu nation, particularly men, find it difficult to easily and speedily accept that culture and tradition are subject to change. The study attempted to establish whether there is any improvement on gender transformation or not, especially within the context of the current endeavours by the South African government to ensure that there is no gender discrimination by having female representativeness in all spheres of government. Progress has been made with regard to fair representation of women in political and decision-making positions in all spheres of government. The country is currently rated 7th in the world in terms of representation of women in legislature. http://www.buanews.gov.za/rss/08/08120715451006-5/11/2012 Throughout the analysis and interpretation of both the statistical and qualitative data, I critiqued the data to establish whether the gender transformation ideal is being achieved in the Zulu family or not. Radical feminism, the theory through which this study was conducted, has helped to show that Zulu women are still disadvantaged and oppressed due to social machinations that are essentially invented by patriarchal men. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.