Advancing Gender Equality in Muslim Leadership Women's Representation in Ulama Bodies in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Main Article Content
Keywords
gender equality, religious leadership , ulama bodies
Abstract
Most In the post-apartheid landscape of South Africa, the constitutional promise of equality continues to challenge traditional power structures, particularly within religious institutions. This article critically examines the systematic exclusion of women from leadership roles in Muslim ulama bodies, despite significant advancements in religious education and scholarly achievements by Muslim women. The research argues that the exclusion of women from ulama bodies is neither theologically justified nor practically defensible. By drawing on egalitarian interpretations of Islamic traditions, historical examples of women's scholarly contributions in Islam, and contemporary global practices of women's religious leadership, the article challenges entrenched patriarchal interpretations that restrict women's roles. Specifically, this study explores the historical context of the Muslim community in South Africa, the current composition of ulama bodies, and the extensive scholarly achievements of Muslim women. It highlights how these bodies wield considerable authority in matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance, and issuing religious legal opinions, yet remain exclusively male-led. The article reveals that Muslim women in South Africa are now extensively educated in Islamic sciences and are fully capable of occupying leadership positions. By advocating for gender diversity in religious leadership, the research proposes a path towards more inclusive, representative, and equitable religious governance that aligns with both Islamic principles and South Africa’s constitutional values of gender equality.
Article Metrics Graph
References
Ali, Yusuf. The Quran – Translation and Commentary. Durban: Islamic Propagation Centre International, 1946.
Amien, Waheeda, “A South African case study for the recognition and regulation of Muslim family law in a minority Muslim secular context” International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 24, no.3 (2010): 361–396.
Amien, Waheeda, “Judicial intervention in facilitating legal recognition (and regulation) of Muslim family law in Muslim-Minority Countries” Journal of Islamic Law 1, no.1 (2020): 65–114.
Amien, Waheeda, “The viability for women’s rights of incorporating Islamic inheritance laws into the South African legal system” Acta Juridica (2014): 192–218.
Bakri, Syamsul. "Women’s Leadership in Islam: A Historical Perspective of A Hadith." Indonesian Journal of Islamic Literature and Muslim Society 5, no.2 (2020): 219–234. DOI:10.22515/islimus.v5i2.3276
Barlas, Asma, Believing Women in Islam – Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’ān. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011.
Bradlow, Frank, “The Origins of the Early Cape Muslims,” in The Early Cape Muslims, eds. Frank R. Bradlow and Margaret Cairns. Cape Town: A. A. Balkema, 1978.
Cachalia, Firoz, “Citizenship, Muslim Family Law and a Future South African Constitution: A preliminary enquiry,” Muslim Personal Law in South Africa: Evolution and Future Status, eds Najma Moosa and Suleiman Dangor, 68-93. Cape Town: Juta, 2019.
Davids, Achmat Davids, “Alternative Education: Tuan Guru and the Formation of the Cape Muslim Community,” in Pages from Cape Muslim History, eds. Yusuf, Da Costa, and Achmat Davids. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter & Shooter, 1994.
Achmat Davids, The Afrikaans of the Cape Muslims. Pretoria: Protea Boekhuis, 2011.
Davids, Nuraan, Women Cosmopolitanism and Islamic Education-On the Virtues of Engagement and Belonging. Lausanne: Peter Lang, 2013.
Essop, Fatima, “Do Islamic Law Wills Contravene the Common Law Prohibitions Against Delegation of Testamentary Powers and Incorporation by Reference?” South African Law Journal 140, no. 3 (2023): 579–610.
Essop, Fatima, “Problems and Possibilities for Islamic Divorce in South Africa,” Islamic Divorce in the 21st Century – A Global Perspective, eds. Erin E. Stiles and Ayang Utriza Yakin, 65-82. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2022.
Essop, Fatima, “Understanding the Islamic Legal System for South African Legal Practitioners,” Advocate 3 (August 2023): 60–62.
Essop, Fatima, The Intersection between the Islamic law of inheritance and the South African law of Succession. Unpublished PhD Thesis. Cape Town: University of Cape Town, 2022.
Fortuin v Church of Christ Mission of the Republic of South Africa (3626/15) [2016] ZAECPEHC 18 (5 May 2018) (Unreported Judgement)
Hassan, Mona, “Reshaping Religious Authority in Contemporary Turkey,” in Women, Leadership, and Mosques – Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority eds Masooda Bano and Hilary Kalmbach, 85–104. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
Hidayatullah, Ayesha A., Feminist Edges of the Qur'an. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Hoel, Nina. “Engaging Religious Leaders: South African Muslim Women’s Experiences Matters Pertaining to Divorce Initiatives,” Social Dynamics 38, no. 2, (2012): 184–200.
Hoel, Nina. “Sexualising the Sacred, Sacralising Sexuality: An Analysis of Public Responses to Muslim Women's Religious Leadership in the Context of a Cape Town Mosque,” Journal for the Study of Religion 26 no. 2 (2013): 25–41.
Kalmbach, Hilary, “Introduction: Islamic Authority and the Study of Female Religious Leaders” in Women, Leadership, and Mosques, eds Masooda Bano and Hilary Kalmbach,1–30. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
Keshavjee, MM, Islam, Sharia & Alternative Dispute Resolution-Mechanisms for Legal Redress in the Muslim Community. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.
Lehmann, Uta Christina, “Women’s Rights to Mosque Space: Access and Participation in Cape Town Mosques” in Women, Leadership, and Mosques – Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority, eds. Masoodah Bano and Hilary Kalmbach, 481–506. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
Maher, Brigid and Karen Bauer, Veiled Voices, DVD. Seattle, WA: Typecast Releasing, 2009.
Mandivenga, Ephraim C., “The Cape Muslims and the Indian Muslims of South Africa: A Comparative Analysis,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 20, no. 2 (2000): 347–352.
Maponya, Dimpho Takane, “Religion, Patriarchy and the Prospect for Gender Equality in South Africa,” International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 82, no 4-5 (2021): 337–349.
Moosa, Najma, “Muslim Personal Law – To be or not to be?” Stell. LR 6 (1995): 417–424.
Moosa, Najma, “The interim and final Constitutions and Muslim personal law: implications for South African Muslim Women” Stell. LR 9 (1998): 196–206.
Moosa, Najma, Unveiling the Mind: The Legal Position of Women in Islam: A South African Context. Durban: Juta & Company, 2011.
Muslim Judicial Council (SA), “Significance of the MJC,” https://mjc.org.za/about-mjc/significance/.
Nadwi, Mohammad Akram, Al-Muhaddithāt: The Women Scholars in Islam 2nd ed. Oxford: Interface Publications, 2013.
Naidu, Maheshvari, and Nina Hoel. "Continuities and departures: Women's religious and spiritual leadership." Journal for the Study of Religion 26, no. 2 (2013): 6–11.
Osmani, Noor Mohammad, Farooq, Mohammad Omar and Abu Umar Faruq Ahmad, “Women Empowerment and Leadership in Islam between Myth and Reality.” In Economic Empowerment of Women in the Islamic World – Theory and Practice eds. Toseef Azid and Jennifer L Ward-Batts. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Vo. Pty. Ltd. 2020
Power, Carla, If Oceans were Ink – An Unlikely Friendship and Journey to the Heart of the Quran. New York: Holt Paperback, 2015.
Rausch, Margaret J, "Women mosque preachers and spiritual guides: Publicising and negotiating women’s religious authority in Morocco," in Women, Leadership, and Mosques – Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority eds Masooda Bano and Hilary Kalmbach, 59–84. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
Sayeed, Asma, Women and the transmission of religious knowledge in Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Schoeman, William J., “South African Religious Demography: The 2013 General Household Survey,” HTS Theological Studies 73, no. 2, (2017): 1–7 https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i2.3837.
Shaikh, Sa’diyya and Fatima Seedat, eds., The Women’s Khutbah Book: Contemporary Sermons on Spirituality and Justice from around the World. Yale University Press, 2022.
Shaikh, Sa’diyya, “Exegetical Violence: Nushuz in Qur’anic Gender Ideology,” Journal for Islamic Studies 17 (1997): 49–73.
Shell, Robert, “The Establishment and Spread of Islam at the Cape from the Beginning of Company Rule to 1838.” Unpublished B.A. (Honours) Thesis. University of Cape Town, 1974.
South African Muslim Directory, “Organisations – Theological” https://www.samd.co.za/organisationstheological.php.
Stiles, Erin E. and Ayang Utriza Yakin “Introduction – Muslim Marital Disputes and Islamic Divorce law in Twenty-First-Century Practice,” in Islamic Divorce in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective, eds. Erin E. Stiles and Ayang Utriza Yakin, 1-22. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2022.
Tayob, Abdulkader I., Race, Ideology, and Islam in Contemporary South Africa. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2004.
Vahed, Goolam, “Contestation and transformation: Muharram practices among Sunnī Muslims in South Africa, 1860–2020,” in Non-Shia Practices of Muharram in South Asia and the Diaspora, eds Pushkar Sohoni and Torsten Tschacher, 71–90. Routledge, 2021.
Vahed, Goolam, “COVID-19, Congregational Worship, and Contestation over ‘Correct’ Islam in South Africa,” Journal for the Study of Religion 34, no. 1 (2021).
Vahed, Goolam, “Islam in the Public Sphere in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Prospects and Challenges,” Journal for Islamic Studies 27, no. 1 (2007): 116–149.
Wadud, Amina, Qur’ān and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Wood, Hannelie J., “Gender Inequality: The Problem of Harmful, Patriarchal, Traditional and Cultural Gender Practices in the Church,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 75, no. 1 (2019).
Zakyi, Ibrahim, "Reinstating the Queens: Reassessing the Hadith on Women’s Political Leadership," American Journal of Islam and Society 33, no. 2 (2016): v–x.
Oort, Johannes van. "The Holy Spirit and the Early Church: Doctrine & Confession." HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 67, no. 3 (2011): 164-72.
Oyewumi, Oyeronke. "Conceptualizing Gender: The Eurocentric Foundations of Feminist Concepts and the Challege of African Epistemologies." Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies 2, no. 1 (2002): 1-9.
Oyewumi, Oyeronke. The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses. United States: University of Minnesota Press, 1997.
Phiri, Isabel. "African Women's Theologies in the New Millennium." Agenda, no. 61 (2004): 16-24.
Rwafa, Urther. "Culture and Religion as Sources of Gender Inequality: Rethinking Challenges Women Face in Contemporary Africa." Journal of Literary Studies 32, no. 1 (2016): 43-52.
Saidi, Christine. "Women in Precolonial Africa." In Oxford Research Encyclopaedias 1-28, 2020.
Salo, Elaine, and Amina Mama. "Talking About Feminism in Africa." Agenda 50 (2001): 58-63.
Segueda, Wendpanga Eric. "Imported Religions, Colonialism and the Situation of Women in Africa " In Schriftenreihe Junges Afrikazentrum/ Young Africa Centre Series, 1-21, 2015.
Spivak, Gayatri. "Can the Subaltern Speak?". In Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader., edited by Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman, 64-111. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
Uno, Roberta. Contemporary Plays by Women of Color : An Anthology. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: New York, 2018.
Wariboko, Niyi. "Colonialism, Christianity, And personhood." Chap. 4 In A Companion to African History, edited by W. H; Ambler Worger, C. and Achebe, N, 59-76. New Jersey, United States: Wiley Blackwell, 2018.
Zwissler, Laurel. "Feminism and Religion: Intersections between Western Activism, Theology and Theory." Religion Compass 6/7 (2012): 354-68.
Amien, Waheeda, “A South African case study for the recognition and regulation of Muslim family law in a minority Muslim secular context” International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 24, no.3 (2010): 361–396.
Amien, Waheeda, “Judicial intervention in facilitating legal recognition (and regulation) of Muslim family law in Muslim-Minority Countries” Journal of Islamic Law 1, no.1 (2020): 65–114.
Amien, Waheeda, “The viability for women’s rights of incorporating Islamic inheritance laws into the South African legal system” Acta Juridica (2014): 192–218.
Bakri, Syamsul. "Women’s Leadership in Islam: A Historical Perspective of A Hadith." Indonesian Journal of Islamic Literature and Muslim Society 5, no.2 (2020): 219–234. DOI:10.22515/islimus.v5i2.3276
Barlas, Asma, Believing Women in Islam – Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’ān. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011.
Bradlow, Frank, “The Origins of the Early Cape Muslims,” in The Early Cape Muslims, eds. Frank R. Bradlow and Margaret Cairns. Cape Town: A. A. Balkema, 1978.
Cachalia, Firoz, “Citizenship, Muslim Family Law and a Future South African Constitution: A preliminary enquiry,” Muslim Personal Law in South Africa: Evolution and Future Status, eds Najma Moosa and Suleiman Dangor, 68-93. Cape Town: Juta, 2019.
Davids, Achmat Davids, “Alternative Education: Tuan Guru and the Formation of the Cape Muslim Community,” in Pages from Cape Muslim History, eds. Yusuf, Da Costa, and Achmat Davids. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter & Shooter, 1994.
Achmat Davids, The Afrikaans of the Cape Muslims. Pretoria: Protea Boekhuis, 2011.
Davids, Nuraan, Women Cosmopolitanism and Islamic Education-On the Virtues of Engagement and Belonging. Lausanne: Peter Lang, 2013.
Essop, Fatima, “Do Islamic Law Wills Contravene the Common Law Prohibitions Against Delegation of Testamentary Powers and Incorporation by Reference?” South African Law Journal 140, no. 3 (2023): 579–610.
Essop, Fatima, “Problems and Possibilities for Islamic Divorce in South Africa,” Islamic Divorce in the 21st Century – A Global Perspective, eds. Erin E. Stiles and Ayang Utriza Yakin, 65-82. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2022.
Essop, Fatima, “Understanding the Islamic Legal System for South African Legal Practitioners,” Advocate 3 (August 2023): 60–62.
Essop, Fatima, The Intersection between the Islamic law of inheritance and the South African law of Succession. Unpublished PhD Thesis. Cape Town: University of Cape Town, 2022.
Fortuin v Church of Christ Mission of the Republic of South Africa (3626/15) [2016] ZAECPEHC 18 (5 May 2018) (Unreported Judgement)
Hassan, Mona, “Reshaping Religious Authority in Contemporary Turkey,” in Women, Leadership, and Mosques – Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority eds Masooda Bano and Hilary Kalmbach, 85–104. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
Hidayatullah, Ayesha A., Feminist Edges of the Qur'an. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Hoel, Nina. “Engaging Religious Leaders: South African Muslim Women’s Experiences Matters Pertaining to Divorce Initiatives,” Social Dynamics 38, no. 2, (2012): 184–200.
Hoel, Nina. “Sexualising the Sacred, Sacralising Sexuality: An Analysis of Public Responses to Muslim Women's Religious Leadership in the Context of a Cape Town Mosque,” Journal for the Study of Religion 26 no. 2 (2013): 25–41.
Kalmbach, Hilary, “Introduction: Islamic Authority and the Study of Female Religious Leaders” in Women, Leadership, and Mosques, eds Masooda Bano and Hilary Kalmbach,1–30. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
Keshavjee, MM, Islam, Sharia & Alternative Dispute Resolution-Mechanisms for Legal Redress in the Muslim Community. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.
Lehmann, Uta Christina, “Women’s Rights to Mosque Space: Access and Participation in Cape Town Mosques” in Women, Leadership, and Mosques – Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority, eds. Masoodah Bano and Hilary Kalmbach, 481–506. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
Maher, Brigid and Karen Bauer, Veiled Voices, DVD. Seattle, WA: Typecast Releasing, 2009.
Mandivenga, Ephraim C., “The Cape Muslims and the Indian Muslims of South Africa: A Comparative Analysis,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 20, no. 2 (2000): 347–352.
Maponya, Dimpho Takane, “Religion, Patriarchy and the Prospect for Gender Equality in South Africa,” International Journal of Philosophy and Theology 82, no 4-5 (2021): 337–349.
Moosa, Najma, “Muslim Personal Law – To be or not to be?” Stell. LR 6 (1995): 417–424.
Moosa, Najma, “The interim and final Constitutions and Muslim personal law: implications for South African Muslim Women” Stell. LR 9 (1998): 196–206.
Moosa, Najma, Unveiling the Mind: The Legal Position of Women in Islam: A South African Context. Durban: Juta & Company, 2011.
Muslim Judicial Council (SA), “Significance of the MJC,” https://mjc.org.za/about-mjc/significance/.
Nadwi, Mohammad Akram, Al-Muhaddithāt: The Women Scholars in Islam 2nd ed. Oxford: Interface Publications, 2013.
Naidu, Maheshvari, and Nina Hoel. "Continuities and departures: Women's religious and spiritual leadership." Journal for the Study of Religion 26, no. 2 (2013): 6–11.
Osmani, Noor Mohammad, Farooq, Mohammad Omar and Abu Umar Faruq Ahmad, “Women Empowerment and Leadership in Islam between Myth and Reality.” In Economic Empowerment of Women in the Islamic World – Theory and Practice eds. Toseef Azid and Jennifer L Ward-Batts. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Vo. Pty. Ltd. 2020
Power, Carla, If Oceans were Ink – An Unlikely Friendship and Journey to the Heart of the Quran. New York: Holt Paperback, 2015.
Rausch, Margaret J, "Women mosque preachers and spiritual guides: Publicising and negotiating women’s religious authority in Morocco," in Women, Leadership, and Mosques – Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority eds Masooda Bano and Hilary Kalmbach, 59–84. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
Sayeed, Asma, Women and the transmission of religious knowledge in Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Schoeman, William J., “South African Religious Demography: The 2013 General Household Survey,” HTS Theological Studies 73, no. 2, (2017): 1–7 https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i2.3837.
Shaikh, Sa’diyya and Fatima Seedat, eds., The Women’s Khutbah Book: Contemporary Sermons on Spirituality and Justice from around the World. Yale University Press, 2022.
Shaikh, Sa’diyya, “Exegetical Violence: Nushuz in Qur’anic Gender Ideology,” Journal for Islamic Studies 17 (1997): 49–73.
Shell, Robert, “The Establishment and Spread of Islam at the Cape from the Beginning of Company Rule to 1838.” Unpublished B.A. (Honours) Thesis. University of Cape Town, 1974.
South African Muslim Directory, “Organisations – Theological” https://www.samd.co.za/organisationstheological.php.
Stiles, Erin E. and Ayang Utriza Yakin “Introduction – Muslim Marital Disputes and Islamic Divorce law in Twenty-First-Century Practice,” in Islamic Divorce in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective, eds. Erin E. Stiles and Ayang Utriza Yakin, 1-22. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2022.
Tayob, Abdulkader I., Race, Ideology, and Islam in Contemporary South Africa. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2004.
Vahed, Goolam, “Contestation and transformation: Muharram practices among Sunnī Muslims in South Africa, 1860–2020,” in Non-Shia Practices of Muharram in South Asia and the Diaspora, eds Pushkar Sohoni and Torsten Tschacher, 71–90. Routledge, 2021.
Vahed, Goolam, “COVID-19, Congregational Worship, and Contestation over ‘Correct’ Islam in South Africa,” Journal for the Study of Religion 34, no. 1 (2021).
Vahed, Goolam, “Islam in the Public Sphere in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Prospects and Challenges,” Journal for Islamic Studies 27, no. 1 (2007): 116–149.
Wadud, Amina, Qur’ān and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Wood, Hannelie J., “Gender Inequality: The Problem of Harmful, Patriarchal, Traditional and Cultural Gender Practices in the Church,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 75, no. 1 (2019).
Zakyi, Ibrahim, "Reinstating the Queens: Reassessing the Hadith on Women’s Political Leadership," American Journal of Islam and Society 33, no. 2 (2016): v–x.
Oort, Johannes van. "The Holy Spirit and the Early Church: Doctrine & Confession." HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 67, no. 3 (2011): 164-72.
Oyewumi, Oyeronke. "Conceptualizing Gender: The Eurocentric Foundations of Feminist Concepts and the Challege of African Epistemologies." Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies 2, no. 1 (2002): 1-9.
Oyewumi, Oyeronke. The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses. United States: University of Minnesota Press, 1997.
Phiri, Isabel. "African Women's Theologies in the New Millennium." Agenda, no. 61 (2004): 16-24.
Rwafa, Urther. "Culture and Religion as Sources of Gender Inequality: Rethinking Challenges Women Face in Contemporary Africa." Journal of Literary Studies 32, no. 1 (2016): 43-52.
Saidi, Christine. "Women in Precolonial Africa." In Oxford Research Encyclopaedias 1-28, 2020.
Salo, Elaine, and Amina Mama. "Talking About Feminism in Africa." Agenda 50 (2001): 58-63.
Segueda, Wendpanga Eric. "Imported Religions, Colonialism and the Situation of Women in Africa " In Schriftenreihe Junges Afrikazentrum/ Young Africa Centre Series, 1-21, 2015.
Spivak, Gayatri. "Can the Subaltern Speak?". In Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader., edited by Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman, 64-111. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.
Uno, Roberta. Contemporary Plays by Women of Color : An Anthology. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: New York, 2018.
Wariboko, Niyi. "Colonialism, Christianity, And personhood." Chap. 4 In A Companion to African History, edited by W. H; Ambler Worger, C. and Achebe, N, 59-76. New Jersey, United States: Wiley Blackwell, 2018.
Zwissler, Laurel. "Feminism and Religion: Intersections between Western Activism, Theology and Theory." Religion Compass 6/7 (2012): 354-68.
Article Sidebar
Published
Jan 5, 2025
Article Details
How to Cite
Advancing Gender Equality in Muslim Leadership: Women’s Representation in Ulama Bodies in Post-Apartheid South Africa. (2025). African Journal of Gender and Religion, 30(2). https://doi.org/10.36615/ryntph87
Issue
Section
Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The African Journal of Gender and Religion is an Open Access journal, therefore all content is freely available without charge to the user or institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of Open Access.
Licensing information
Creative Commons CC Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License
Author Biography
Fatima Essop
Independent Scholar and Advocate of the High Court of South Africa
How to Cite
Advancing Gender Equality in Muslim Leadership: Women’s Representation in Ulama Bodies in Post-Apartheid South Africa. (2025). African Journal of Gender and Religion, 30(2). https://doi.org/10.36615/ryntph87