The bravery of these women (who risked official reprisals including arrest, detention and even bannings) is applauded here. Women throughout the country had put their names to petitions and thus indicated anger and frustration at having their freedom of movement restricted by the hated official passes. The year 2006 was a landmark year in which we celebrated the massive Women's March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria 50 years ago. This is a particularly appropriate time to be studying the role of women in the progress towards the new South African democracy.

However, with the rise of the industrial economy, the growth of towns and (certainly in the case of indigenous societies) the development of the migrant labour system, these prescriptions on the role of women, as we shall see, came to be overthrown. Economic activity beyond the home (in order to help feed and clothe the family) was acceptable, but not considered ‘feminine'. They were not expected to concern themselves with matters outside the home – that was more properly the domain of men. Women's role was primarily a domestic one it included child rearing and seeing to the well-being, feeding and care of the family. In other words, it was the men who had authority in society women were seen as subordinate to men. South African society (and this applies in varying degrees to all race groups) are conventionally patriarchal. The reason for this ‘invisibility' of women, calls for some explanation. Not only did most of these older books lean heavily towards white political development to the detriment of studies of the history and interaction of whites with other racial groups, but they also focused on the achievements of men (often on their military exploits or leadership ability) virtually leaving women out of South African history.

Previously the history of women's political organization, their struggle for freedom from oppression, for community rights and, importantly, for gender equality, was largely ignored in history texts. It is only over the last three or four decades that women's role in the history of South Africa has, belatedly, been given some recognition.

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