Regional Assessment of the Status of the San in Southern Africa A Gender Perspective on the Status of the San in Southern Africa Silke Felton and Heike Becker Legal Assistance Centre A GENDER PERSPECTIVE ON THE STATUS OF THE SAN IN SOUTHERN AFRICA i REGIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE STATUS OF THE SAN IN SOUTHERN AFRICA REPORT SERIES • Report No. 5 of 5 A GENDER PERSPECTIVE ON THE STATUS OF THE SAN IN SOUTHERN AFRICA Silke Felton Heike Becker LEGAL ASSISTANCE CENTRE (LAC) Windhoek • April 2001 ii REGIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE STATUS OF THE SAN IN SOUTHERN AFRICA © Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) 2001 Any part of this publication may be reproduced for educational or academic purposes, on condition that the authors, the publisher and the financial contribution of the European Community to the Regional Assessment of the Status of the San in Southern Africa are acknowledged. First printed April 2001 Printed by John Meinert Printing, Windhoek Publisher’s contact details: Street address: 4 Körner Street, Windhoek Postal address: PO Box 604, Windhoek, Republic of Namibia Telephone: (+264) (+61) 223356 Fax: 234953 E-mail address: [email protected] Web site: http://www.lac.org.na ISBN 99916-765-4-6 A GENDER PERSPECTIVE ON THE STATUS OF THE SAN IN SOUTHERN AFRICA iii PREFACE At the 22nd Session of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly held in Windhoek in March 1996, a resolution was passed recognising the “special difficulties encountered in integrating hunting and gathering peoples in agricultural industrial states”, and calling for “a comprehensive study of the San people … in the light of international conventions”. To this end it was decided that a study titled A Regional Assessment of the Status of the San in Southern Africa would be conducted, with funding from the European Union (EU). With a view to implementing the project, the EU commissioned Prof. Sidsel Saugestad at the University of Tromsø to prepare an inception report incorporating a broad work plan and budget. This report was revised in Windhoek in late 1998 by the implementing agency, the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC), and implementation commenced following the exchange of contracts between the LAC and EU in January 1999. A project co-ordinator was formally appointed in the same month, and a total of ten researchers were contracted to conduct the research and prepare a report on their findings. The outcome of the study is a series of five reports. The first in the series serves as an introduction to the study as a whole. The second, third and fourth are country-specific reports on the situation of San in South Africa, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe (combined in one volume), Botswana and Namibia. The fifth is the outcome of a specialist consultancy commissioned as part of the study to focus on gender issues in relation to San. The study as a whole was made possible by a contribution from budget line B7-6200/98-13/ENV/VIII of the European Community (EC). All opinions expressed in the study report series are the opinions of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the EC, nor of the LAC. James Suzman Study Co-ordinator Windhoek January 2001 iv REGIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE STATUS OF THE SAN IN SOUTHERN AFRICA ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In memory of Boitumelo Simon Many people have contributed to this publication and the research that went into it. The present study would not have been possible without the invaluable support and assistance which we received from friends and colleagues who provided information, directed us to oral, published and unpublished written sources, sent us material, commented on draft chapters and shared their knowledge with us in many different ways. All remaining errors are solely our own. Thanks are due to Michael Bollig (University of Cologne), Matthias Brenzinger (University of Cologne), Magdalena Brörmann (WIMSA), Lin Cassidy (Gaborone), Nigel Crawhall (SASI consultant), Philippa Haden (formerly of SASI), Piteimo Hainyanyula (Centre for Applied Social Sciences, University of Namibia), Shireen Hassim (Witwatersrand University), Jennifer Hays (State University of New York), Thekla Hohmann (University of Cologne), Werner Hillebrecht (National Library of Namibia), Robert Hitchcock (University of Nebraska), Mieke van der Post (KDT), Willemien le Roux (KDT), Steven Robins (University of the Western Cape), Onalenna Selolwane (University of Botswana), James Suzman (Windhoek), Renée Sylvian (Dalhousie University), Hennie Swart (!Xu & Khwe CPA), Axel Thoma (WIMSA), Linda Waldman (University of the Witwatersrand) and Polly Wiessner (University of Utah). The field research was also assisted by San men and women who translated during interviews and dis- cussions. We are especially grateful to Marie Ndumba (Schmidtsdrift), Awelina Chifako (Schmidtsdrift) and Boitumelo Simon (Ghanzi). Finally, we extend our deepest gratitude to the many San women and men in Ghanzi District, Tsumkwe West and Schmidtsdrift/Platfontein who shared their knowledge and aspirations with us and patiently answered our never-ending questions. We do not want to single out any of them. All their names are listed in the appendix, as are those of the numerous men and women from southern African countries and other parts of the world who work with San communities for a better future and who shared their expertise with us. Many thanks are due to all of them. Silke Felton and Heike Becker A GENDER PERSPECTIVE ON THE STATUS OF THE SAN IN SOUTHERN AFRICA v CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................. ix SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................................xi S.1 Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... xi S.2 General................................................................................................................................................... xi S.2.1 Work and the division of labour....................................................................................................... xi S.2.2 Education ..................................................................................................................................... xii S.2.3 Health........................................................................................................................................... xii S.2.4 Violence and abuse ......................................................................................................................xiii S.2.5 Leadership ...................................................................................................................................xiii S.3 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................xiv S.3.1 Governmental and non-governmental policy frameworks................................................................xiv S.3.2 Sectoral interventions.................................................................................................................... xv S.3.3 Work and income.......................................................................................................................... xv S.3.4 Education ..................................................................................................................................... xv S.3.5 Health........................................................................................................................................... xv S.3.6 Violence and abuse ...................................................................................................................... xv S.3.7 Leadership ...................................................................................................................................xvi S.3.8 The way forward ...........................................................................................................................xvi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background to the study ........................................................................................................................1 1.2 Conceptual framework............................................................................................................................2 1.3 Aims and objectives................................................................................................................................2 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................................................................................4 2.1 Traditionalist “Bushmen studies” ..........................................................................................................4 2.2 Studies of sexual stereotyping ...............................................................................................................5 2.3 Studies of gender and change................................................................................................................5 2.4 A study of San women and the military..................................................................................................6 2.5 A study of San women on farms.............................................................................................................6