Mothers in the Corridors of the South African Legal System: An Assessment of the Johannesburg Family Court Pilot Project

Abstract

In emerging nations and nationalisms, motherhood has historically operated as a strong symbol anchoring the 'nationalist imaginary'.1 Indeed, the march by thousands of women to the Union buildings to protest pass laws at the height of apartheid oppression became a powerful symbol of the struggle for liberation in South Africa. Not coincidentally, the fact that many of those women were mothers was central to the power of that symbolism. That motherhood is venerated in African communities is trite, and South Africa is no exception.