‘Now Is the Time!’ The Importance of International Spaces for Women’s Activism within the ANC, 1960–1976

Abstract

This article charts ANC women’s feminist struggles in the early exile era, 1960–1976, and how the experience of exile reoriented their approach to anti-apartheid struggles and feminism. It discusses the political events and hierarchies that affected the position of ANC women within the organisation, and how international spaces helped shape their activism. I argue that although women in the ANC made progress under the influence of strong leaders in exile, the situation in South Africa and the ANC’s rigid patriarchal culture meant that women’s fight for political equality was far from successful in this period, both within the apartheid state and the liberation movement itself. Using the experiences of ANC women based in Sweden alongside better-known stories from the ANC headquarters in Dar es Salaam and Lusaka, the article shows that the international connections that women in exile made at this time – throughout Africa, across continents and on the international diplomatic scene – and their exposure to second-wave feminism and black pride had a direct impact on their mobilisation and ability to organise, allowing them to build strength for the late apartheid era.