In this essay, the role of gender within African societies in the major, urban South African cities such as Durban will be explored. The essay will focus on and discuss the reasons cities often developed into masculine spaces in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the beginning of a shift in t...
HIST201: CULTURE AND HISTORY IN 19TH
AND 20TH CENTURY KWAZULU-NATAL
(2020)
ESSAY ASSIGNMENT: GENDER AND THE CITY OF DURBAN
KIRSTIN PILLAY (219006273)
, In this essay, the role of gender within African societies in the major, urban South African
cities such as Durban will be explored. The essay will focus on and discuss the reasons cities
often developed into masculine spaces in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the beginning
of a shift in the gender dynamics in the 1930s; as well as using an analysis of Cato Manor as a
case study, to illustrate the influence African women had in the urban area by the 1950s.
The effects of colonialism and the migrant labour system played an integral role in South
African cities, developing into masculine spaces in the 19th and 20th centuries. Colonialism
caused the rapid urbanisation and disintegration of the pre-colonial society, which forced
African men into the migrant labour system. In the late 19th century “Hut Tax” was imposed
on homesteads and had to be paid annually irrespective of prevailing economic, environmental,
or social circumstances. A few families could pay because of increased agricultural production,
but many resorted to wage labour. The “Hut Tax” policy was designed to introduce the
homestead into the newfound capitalist economy and bind them to the system of migrant labour
as African communities became cash dependent. In 1897, tragedies such as locust swarms and
drought ruined rural agriculture and a Rinderpest epidemic killed off African producers
livestock, forced young, unmarried men who were the only members of the homestead that
1
could be released into migrant labour in urban areas. Factors such as better job opportunities,
the rising cost of living, poverty and rural dispossession contributed to the influx of males into
urban areas.2
1
Walker, Cheryl. 1990. “Gender and the development of the migrant labour system c.1850-1930: an overview.”
In Women and gender in Southern Africa to 1945, 173-175. Cape Town, London: David Philip,James Currey.
Accessed June 25, 2020.
2
May, Julian. 1987. “Migrant labour in Transkei: Cause and consequence at the village level.” Journal of
Contemporary African Studies 6 (1-2): 123-149. Accessed June 25, 2020.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/ref/10.1080/02589008708729470?scroll=top
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