PIP: Changes in South Africa provide an opportunity for reaching gender equity. Constitutional changes will include some language that outlaws discrimination on the basis of gender. A Women's Charter was proposed, which would be more detailed than a Bill of Rights. Rights as well as enforcement of those rights would be identified. The expectation is that opposition will come from the political, social, and economic structures of a patriarchal society. The debate is more about who stands to lose, if gender discrimination is abolished. It is asserted that, if African family law is based on the traditional view of marriage that women serve the interests of clan survival, the issue of gender oppression will not be taken seriously. Women must be viewed as valuable in themselves and deserving of recognition for their human worth on the same terms as men. When inequality is masked under group interests that deny women and children a say in the articulation of those interests, women will become disadvantaged. There is no global understanding of human rights. However, one aspect of the debate centers on the exclusion of women's rights on grounds of being of a "cultural" nature. What is unacceptable in one community may be acceptable in another community that is culturally different. The cultural argument is viewed as a strategy used to maintain the "status quo" or the ways things are. Cultural arguments in South Africa take on new meaning because of the long standing cultural and political domination by one group. A balance must be reached in attainment of a self-determination based on a "majority" culture and democratic values. The majority culture should reflect a sensitivity to historical roots and values, but retain only the African values that are beneficial. It is considered inappropriate to base cultural uniformity on Western or international values. The guiding principle is identified as the guarantee of a life of dignity to every person. Racism and apartheid are not defensible under such rights to dignity. Sexism is also an affront to dignity. South Africans have a human need for cultural identity, which has been badly abused and manipulated historically under apartheid. Women's struggle must also not be violated.