Gender apartheid (also called sexual apartheid or sex apartheid) is the economic and social sexual discrimination against individuals because of their gender or sex. It is a system enforced by using either physical or legal practices to relegate individuals to subordinate positions. Feminist scholar Phyllis Chesler, professor of psychology and women's studies, defines the phenomenon as "practices which condemn girls and women to a separate and subordinate sub-existence and which turn boys and men into the permanent guardians of their female relatives' chastity". Instances of gender apartheid lead not only to the social and economic disempowerment of individuals, but can also result in severe physical harm.
Etymology
The term gender apartheid stems from South Africa's racial apartheid that instituted a system of white supremacy () and separated the country's majority black inhabitants from whites. Afrikaans for apartness or separateness, the use of the term apartheid to refer to gender reflects a human rights violation that entails both separation and oppression. In defining apartheid, Dr. Anthony Löwstedt wrote: The concept of separateness in itself does not necessarily imply that any group is or will be favored over any other... The distinctive characteristic of apartheid and of other kinds of oppressive segregation is that political, economic, social, and even geographic conditions are created consciously and systematically in order to forcibly separate groups, invariably to the benefit—at least the short-term benefit—of at least one of the groups, but never, or only accidentally, to the benefit of all of them.
It is important to note that gender apartheid is a universal phenomenon and therefore is not confined to South Africa. While reports of gender apartheid have most frequently arisen in the context of Islamic culture, it is prevalent around the world. Some human rights advocates have argued for sanctions against states practicing gender apartheid, similar to those imposed on South Africa under apartheid.
In religion
Instances of gender apartheid have been found institutionalized through religious and cultural practices. For example, aspects of the treatment of women under fundamentalist interpretations of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism have been described as gender apartheid. Use of faith, often through strict interpretations of religious code, to justify gender apartheid is highly controversial.
Catholicism
The terms gender apartheid and sexual apartheid have also been used to describe differential treatment of women in institutions such as the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. Presbyterian minister and author Patricia Budd Kepler points towards women's institutionalized struggle for acceptance into clergy and religious leadership roles as an example of gender apartheid. Specifically, Kepler criticizes the traditional conceptions of masculinity and femininity that limit female authority in the church, insisting instead that women's entrance into the ministry does not disrupt divine order. Similarly, author Susan D. Rose describes the patriarchal family structure of evangelical Christian churches in America as maintaining gender apartheid.
The Roman Catholic Church has been identified as perpetuating gender apartheid due to the Vatican's listing of "the attempted sacred ordination of a woman" as a delicta graviora—in other words, a crime of equal standing to sexual molestation of minors, and "acquisition, possession or distribution of [child] pornography by a cleric". In light of such, some have characterized the Catholic Church as endorsing patriarchy and subsequently alienating women from leadership roles within religion.
Islam
The Islamic religion has been criticised for the discriminatory nature of its personal status laws and criminal code as applied to women. Islam's patriarchal values remain one of its most contested principles, according to differing schools of thought. Generally, however, male and female rights differ considerably according to Islamic personal status laws. For instance, Muslim men are permitted to engage in polygamy and marry Non-Muslim women while Muslim women are forbidden from having multiple husbands and marrying non-Muslim men, and female inheritances are half of their male sibling's. Furthermore, conviction by Islamic criminal jurisprudence further discriminates against women, as it relies heavily on witness testimony. Female testimonies alone are considered insufficient to convict a murderer, requiring a male testimony for validation.