The role of women in promoting cultural diversity and tolerance in South Africa communities: A theoretical discourse

Abstract

It has come to be a global issue that women are not recognized as people who can make a huge impact in terms of diversifying culture.  In various cultural systems, men are recognized as the superiors because of masculinity and super dominance whereas women are  excellent in aspects of bringing people together. Furthermore, the aspect of sense of belonging which is heritage is seen from an African  woman who uphold a good standard of living in an African perspective within the facets of African life skills education. This paper aims to  explore the recognition of women and their roles in promoting cultural diversity and tolerance through the application of Ubuntu  concept. African women work together to share knowledge, ideas, and experiences with which all are embedded in the oral histories that  they shared as a collective. This paper is a review paper which seeks to pinpoint how women have used their oral histories and  indigenous knowledge to ensure tolerance and embrace diversity within African communities. A qualitative document analysis (QDA) is  applied in this review paper to identified themes relevant to be explored to understand how the values, experiences and skills women  have shared orally have shaped African communities. The paper finds that across Africa, women’s contribution to the cultural diversity  and heritage is undervalued and they are mostly deprived from opportunities or chances to participate in its identification. Indigenous  women do not reject their culture, but they amend certain traditional practices to promote social justice. The paper concludes that  women have a right to engage in interpreting and identifying cultural diversity and tradition, and to decide which practices, traditions,  and values can be kept, reoriented, modified, or discarded.