In this essay, I will discuss how the glorification of women's role in liberation movements silenced their real, lived experiences during the struggle. I will explore the gender hierarchy in the camps and also explain how gender roles functioned within the liberation movements in southern Africa. First, I will discuss how the liberation movement viewed women; Second, I will explore the lived experiences of women in the movements and their interactions with men in the struggle. Finally, I will explore how and why the glorification of women's role in the liberation movement occurred. Gender is considered a societal construct that refers to the characteristics that differentiate a man from a woman; and gender roles refer to the social and behavioral expectations deemed “appropriate” for a specific gender, masculine or feminine (Kessler, 1990). The gender hierarchy and gender roles within liberation movements. During the Southern African Liberation Movement, many women joined the struggle in the struggle for independence against apartheid. The African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa was considered the first liberation movement to excel in the fight for gender equality within its political organization. Even though he had enforced his “equality” clause, the actual experiences of women in the struggle were very different from the ideal of equality (Hissam, 2004). The liberation camps were predominantly dominated by men, and women were considered second-class citizens or second-class members of the ANC; Women's participation in the liberation struggle was largely due to the conditions set by men. Women were seen as a collective that provided a support structure for the men in the camps, for men “real work” was seen as….. . middle of paper ......undermined by their resulting political positions in the democratic system in South Africa after the liberation movement. The glorification of women after the struggle is a way of silencing women's voices about their experiences in the liberation movement and a form of control. By creating a “symbolized” figure of the ideal woman, the struggle pursues a political objective that benefits men in a patriarchal society. Men in power intentionally encouraged the glorification of women's role in the struggle in order to alleviate the plight of women during the liberation movement. The glorification of women functioned as a means of creating a defined role for women, considered equal, but in reality socially, politically, and economically subordinate to men; it is a masculine avant-garde that gives women a conditional and restrictive objective in defining society.