Frauen-Rechtsorganisationen in Südafrika - Ansätze und Grenzen gesellschaftlicher Transformationsprozesse

South African Women's Rights Organisations want to provide a decisive contribution to social change. If one wants to arrive at a just estimation of the range and sustainability of their intentions to contribute to the process of transformation, it is necessary to go beyond looking merely into the organisational structures themselves. It is indispensable to analyse the relationship between the democratically elected government and non-governmental organisations as well. During the apartheid years women's rights organisations concentrated on overcoming racial discrimination in South Africa. Today they perceive it as their task to collaborate with state institutions in dealing with the gender aspects of the legal system. This paper investigates in how far the organisations contribute to implement those rights which have been written into the new democratic constitution of 1996. A central issue in this context is the reduction of violence against women. The longvity of those racial, ethnic and social differences which had been established by the apartheid state, contribute decisively to shape the space in which women's rights organisations are able to work successfully.