Abstract
In South Africa, research on the history of contraception has mainly focused on the National Party’s population-control policies and practices from the 1960s to the 1980s, such as providing free hormonal contraceptives in the form of “the pill” or Depo Provera injections while simultaneously denying access to health care to the black majority.1 During this era, political elites committed to the maintenance of the racist social order were fearful of the growth of the black population, a fear that was exacerbated by intensifying concern in the West about population growth in the Third World.2 Providing free contraceptives to black women was intended to curb black population growth and thereby buttress apartheid.3
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
B. Klugman, “The Political Economy of Population Control in South Africa,” (BA thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, 1980), p. 6.
On the development and implement of apartheid, see D. O’Meara, Forty Lost Years: The Apartheid State and the Politics of the National Party, 1948–1994 (Randburg and Athens: Ravan Press, 1996),
and D. Posel, The Making of Apartheid, 1948–1961: Conflict and Compromise (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991).
H. Giliomee, The Afrikaners: Biography of a People (London: Hurst and Company, 2003), p. 345.
H. Houghton, “Economic Development, 1865–1965,” in M. Wilson and L. Thompson (eds), Oxford History of South Africa, Vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969–71), p. 28.
D. O’Meara, Volkskapitalisme: Class, Capital and Ideology in the Development of Afrikaner Nationalism 1934–1948 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), p. 24.
Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa (hereafter PPASA), Johannesburg Office (JHB), Annual Report of the Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa (Johannesburg: PPASA, 1998); PPASA, JHB, Repro News, 1, 1 (1997), p. 5.
E. Hellmann, Rooiyard: A Sociology Survey of an Urban Native Slum Yard (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1948), p. 61. Hellmann’s research was conducted in the mid-1930s.
For an example of the use of oral history methodology to uncover “ordinary” people’s experiences in reproductive decision-making see K. Fisher, “‘She Was Quite Satisfied with the Arrangements I Made’: Gender and Birth Control in Britain 1920–1950,” Past and Present, 169 (2000) 161–93.
For an excellent example of a contribution to social history in the South African context see B. Bozzoli with M. Nkotsoe, Women of Phokeng: Consciousness, Life Strategy, and Migrancy in South Africa, 1900–83 (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1991).
E.K. Abel and C.H. Browner, “Selective Compliance with Biomedical Authority and the Uses of Experiential Knowledge,” in M. Lock and P. Kaufert (eds), Pragmatic Women and Body Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 321.
Copyright information
© 2004 Susanne M. Klausen
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Klausen, S.M. (2004). Conclusion. In: Race, Maternity, and the Politics of Birth Control in South Africa, 1910–39. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511255_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511255_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-51722-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-51125-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)