Apartheid and Ethics

Synonyms

Afrikaner political system; Nationalist government; Racial discrimination; Racial segregation; South Africa

Introduction

The Merriam Webster dictionary (2016) defines apartheid as “racial segregation; specifically: a former policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of South Africa: separation, segregation (cultural apartheid), (gender apartheid).” Gender/sexual apartheid is defined by Chesler (2011, p. 6) as “practices which condemn girls and women to a separate and subordinate sub-existence and which turn boys and men into the permanent guardians of their female relatives’ chastity.” Cultural apartheid is more amorphous and can take various forms such as sport, school, and university segregation on racial, ethnic, or religious grounds.

The term apartheid is of South African Afrikaans origin and means “separateness”; the “state of being apart” was a socio-politico-legal system of racial segregation in South...