Inequitable Access to Citizenship: Gendered Social Policies and Unattainable Democratic Ideals

Although gender equality is central to the attainment of democracy, its realisation in conceptions of citizenship in democratic states has been marred with complications.   Access to citizenship rights is most often unequally experienced due to unequal power dynamics emanating from racial, gendered and socio-economic factors. As a result of these factors women and men’s experiences of democratic citizenship is a site of struggle and constant negotiation. This paper seeks to interrogate women and men’s ability to access the fundamental rights guaranteed in democratic countries.  This examination is undertaken through an analysis of social policies in Southern Africa. The paper argues that gendered, racial and class factors hinders equitable access to citizenship rights, so does the inequitable valuing of social, economic and political rights in defining citizenship.  In conclusion the paper holds that these inequalities limit the attainment of full democratic citizenship for most of those who have been historically excluded in terms of gender, race and class.