Visual Representation of Black Women’s Empowerment in Online Political Advertisements: A Case Study of South Africa

Abstract

This paper argues that Black women are represented in online political advertisements during South African election campaigns. Through the qualitative online research approach, this paper deploys a purposive sample of 30 online political advertisements of the African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA), and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) from the national, provincial, and local government 2009 and 2024 elections cycles. This paper deploys an Africana Womanist Approach as both a theoretical and analytical framework to interrogate underlying visual rhetoric concerning how Black women are depicted in the sampled online political advertisements, particularly in the framework of post-apartheid South Africa. Findings revealed that Black women are consistently portrayed in the ANC, DA, and EFF advertisements as maternal figures, labourers, marginalised individuals, and iconic of anti-apartheid activists’ inequality since the 1994 transition. Nevertheless, it was also found that Black women continue to be seen as emblems of poverty and underdevelopment, despite the political promises of change. This paper advances understanding as to how perspectives on Africana women shape the visual framing of political messages in the South Africa online campaign environment, demonstrating how these representations can be aligned to produce cultural and political communication strategies.

1. Introduction

The end of apartheid in 1994 marked a significant democratic transition that ended discriminatory laws that marginalised Black women economically. Yet, economic disparity, racial social stratification, and gender-based exclusion, which stem from the structural remnants of apartheid and colonialism, continue to influence the portrayal of Black and Coloured women in media. Historically, Black, Coloured, and Indian women played a critical role in the anti-apartheid movement, leading grassroots efforts, maintaining community alliances, and opposing both racial and patriarchal oppression. Prominent female icons of struggle like Lilian Ngoyi, Albertina Sisulu, and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela not only played critical roles in the fight against racial oppression and White patriarchy but also challenged mainstream historical accounts to advocate for women’s political empowerment (Penxa-Matholeni, 2022).

After the apartheid era ended in South Africa in 1994, political parties, especially the African National Congress (ANC), which adopted a voluntary gender quota policy of 50/50, significantly increased the presence of women in both parliament and local governmental institutions. Among the essential strategies for empowering women in South Africa, the ANC government has implemented laws and policies aimed at fostering inclusivity and ensuring racial and gender equality, such as the establishment of the Commission for Gender Equity (CGE) and the Ministry of Women, Youth, and People with Disabilities aimed to promote development and empower of marginalised women and to address gender-based oppression.

Despite efforts to address gender equality, Black women still face cultural, structural, and institutional obstacles in public and economic environments that impede their personal, social and economic advancement in the form of high rates of poverty and underdevelopment. For instance, Statistics South Africa (2024) reports 47% are economically inactive, impacted by sexism, racism, and neoliberal policies, which Oyedola (2024, p. 24) describes as “recolonising structures” perpetuating economic reliance for Black women. This gap between policy discussions and actual outcomes necessitates a critical examination of how political narratives influence and depict women’s empowerment, potentially masking more profound structural inequalities.

On the other hand, the advancement of digital media has transformed political communication, creating new spaces to explore gender identities. Political actors use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X to connect with their electoral constituencies. Visual rhetoric in online advertisements is crucial for shaping and challenging narratives of women’s empowerment in post-1994 South Africa. The objective of this paper is to explore the images used by the ANC, DA, and EFF in online political advertisements from 2009 to 2024, using Africana womanism. This paper examines how these online political advertisements frame ideologies for Black women’s empowerment in post-1994 South Africa. As per Manzini (2017), empowerment means gaining control over life, acquiring necessary skills, setting goals, and achieving previously unreachable changes. Empowerment gives women the agency to make informed life decisions, offering autonomy to direct their paths, especially where such opportunities were previously unavailable.

This paper seeks to answer the following research questions:

• RQ 1: How are Black women visually portrayed in terms of roles, identities, and symbolic positioning in ANC, DA and EFF online political advertisements between 2009 and 2024?
• RQ 2: In what ways do these visual representation reflect, reinforce, or challenge narratives of empowerment and marginalisation of Black women in post-apartheid South Africa?
• RQ 3: How does applying an Africana Womanist framework to these representations provide alternative insights compared to Western feminist assumptions about women’s empowerment?

The paper’s findings, through Africana womanism, highlights Black women’s experiences and rejects the Western feminist views that consider caregiver roles as disempowering. It sees Black women’s role as represented in ANC (2014, 2016, 2019), DA (2016a, 2016b, 2019), and EFF (2016, 2019, 2024) online political advertisements as cultural expressions of agency and resilience, providing clarity by linking theory to analysis and situating studies in Afrocentric debates on decolonisation, identity, and representation.

2. Online Political Advertisements

Since political advertisements on television were introduced in South Africa during the 2009 national and provincial elections, online political advertisements have been integrated with traditional media, newspapers, radio, and television. Ridout et al. (2015) highlights a significant shift from traditional media to digital media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X. These studies underscore that political advertisements have significantly adapted to digital media to maximise their reach.

Studies (see Fowler et al., 2021a, 2021b) indicate that online political advertising is driven by internet, smartphone, and social media access. Fowler et al. (2021b) note three main differences between traditional and digital political ads: (1) The internet offers new platforms for political messaging, such as social media, YouTube, and website banners. (2) Digital advertisements use large datasets for precise audience targeting, enabling personalised rather than general messaging. (3) Digital tools facilitate monitoring of electoral groups, analysis of voting trends, and assessment of advertisements’ effectiveness.

Online political advertisements offer new ways for political actors to obtain instant feedback and adjust strategies quickly. Bossetta (2018) states these online political advertisements are key in political marketing, targeting and engaging more voters with customised messages. For instance, Bryant (2024) and Fowler et al. (2023) found that the U.S Democratic and Republicans parties spent USD 10.5 billion on online political advertisements in the 2024 American presidential elections campaigns to influence candidate and political issue perceptions. Social media’s ability to engage diverse voter groups across platforms makes these advertisements vital for direct campaign communication and connection. However, these studies mainly focused on Western political cultures over African regions.

African studies on online political advertisements (see Thatelo & Aiseng, 2025; Tshuma, 2021; Tyali & Mukhudwana, 2020) have mainly focused on the use of online political advertisements on digital media during the South African elections. For instance, Thatelo and Aiseng (2025), Tyali and Mukhudwana (2020) explored online political advertisements focusing primarily on counter-imaging and negative political advertisements on YouTube. However, these studies have not addressed how online political advertisements represent Black women’s empowerment in post-1994 South Africa. This paper explores representation of

Black women’s empowerment in online political advertisements of South Africa’s major parties, the ANC, DA, and EFF, during election campaigns.

3. Women’s Representation in Online Political Advertisements

Although strides have been made in promoting gender equality, the under-representation of women in political roles continues to be a worldwide issue. Historical analysis reveals that gender has notably influenced political representation; as noted by Parpart (2019), male dominance in politics historically sidelined women. The United Nations 2023 report indicates that women occupy only 26% of parliamentary seats globally, underscoring the enduring barriers to their political participation and representation. Additionally, Lyness and Grotto (2018) identified that societal norms preferring male leadership have furthered gender inequalities in the political sphere. Jackson et al. (2024) identified that political advertisements often mirror societal inclinations favouring male candidates. Studies by Burrell (2014), Budiana (2023), and Goswami et al. (2023) highlight how the dominance of male characters in political advertisements shapes voter opinions and influences election results.

Furthermore, Mattan and Small (2021), Aaldering and Van Der Pas (2020) observed that the media frequently present women as political actors in conventional roles associated with caregiving and domestic duties—such as education, family, health, and the household—which undermines their perceived leadership capabilities. Such depictions in political advertisements contribute to the view of female candidates as less capable, thereby reducing voter support (see Kahi, 2024; Rohrbach et al., 2023; Martinez i Coma & McDonnell, 2023). This gender bias in political advertisements also perpetuates imbalances in political representation (Martinez i Coma & McDonnell, 2023), underscoring the pressing need for equitable media portrayals. Kahi (2024) emphasised the crucial influence of media portrayals in shaping public perceptions regarding gender roles in politics.

Conversely, the depiction of women in political ads mirrors broader societal transformations. Studies (see Windels et al., 2020; Kordrostami & Laczniak, 2022) have identified a notable trend towards portraying women in empowering roles. According to Windels et al. (2020), these roles of social and economic empowerment have evolved into a radical feminist discourse, arguing that women face oppression mainly from patriarchal structures—systems wherein men wield predominant power and authority—rather than focusing on issues of equality. Gill (2019) observes that radical feminist rhetoric complicates the portrayal of women’s empowerment by commodifying such messages. This shift detracts from addressing the genuine issue of the marginalisation and exclusion of women, especially Black women, from the dominant economy.

As a result, there is a paucity of research on the portrayal of Black women’s empowerment, particularly in countries such as South Africa (Tsichla, 2020). The complex relationships between race, class, and gender remain underexplored, with prevailing narratives frequently sidelining Black women. Moreover, it is essential to explore further into how online political advertisements affect political discourse during events like elections, given that social media content heavily influences public perceptions and the formation of gender stereotypes.

4. African Culture in Online Political Advertisements

The participation of women in African politics is significantly affected by cultural, social, and economic influences. These factors have a profound impact on how women are depicted in political advertisements, where intersecting identities such as race and class are pivotal. Gakahu (2024) notes that African cultural narratives frequently determine women’s visual representation, often restricting them to conventional roles that either bolster or confront stereotypes like the “mother of the nation” as a political symbol.

Studies (see Gakahu, 2024; Barkhuizen et al., 2022; Lisa, 2022; Dolan et al., 2021; Robinson & Gottlieb, 2021) indicate that media depictions of women through the lenses of African culture and traditions reveal substantial gender disparities in political scenarios. Lisa (2022) noted that media platforms, political conversations, and tactics such as political marketing are largely dominated by men.

According to Barkhuizen et al. (2022), traditional cultural standards significantly shape opinions about female political leadership in Africa and in the diaspora, contributing to women being marked as under-represented in political fields. For instance, studies by Slaughter et al. (2024), Wright (2023), Onuoha et al. (2023), and Bailey (2021) reveal that Black women candidates, in political communication, are faced with numerous representational challenges such as racial and gendered biases and broader structural inequalities. Onuoha et al. (2023) pointed out that “biases, far-right misogynoir, and flawed political practices” directly impact how Black women candidates are portrayed in online political advertising and how they strategically craft their own digital political messages.

Consequently, Aziz (2023) calls for visibility and support for women in politics, highlighting the necessity of developing strategies to combat gender prejudice in political advertisements. Comprehending these dynamics is crucial in removing barriers to women’s political involvement and ensuring future campaigns become more inclusive. While these studies acknowledge the gender inequalities in African politics, this paper investigates how Black women’s empowerment is represented in the ANC, DA, and EFF online political advertisements.

5. Africana Womanist Theory as a Framework

This paper suggests that the depiction of Black women in digital political advertisements can be examined using Africana Womanist Theory, as formulated by Clenora Hudson-Weems in her seminal 1997 work, during a time when Western feminist discourse was prevalent. Hudson-Weems (1997) argues for the necessity of constructing analytical models founded on African viewpoints to evaluate African matters, separate from Western approaches. The significance of African theories is in empowering researchers to genuinely comprehend and interpret African realities, maintaining their authentic meaning. Africana Womanist Theory seeks to (1) oppose the dominance of Western feminist ideologies being regarded as universally applicable to African women and (2) emphasise the shortcomings of Western feminist theories by recognising and valuing the insights and contributions of women from an African knowledge framework.

Africana womanism focuses on liberating people of African descent, emphasising family, community, and African womanhood, rooted in African culture (Hudson-Weems, 2019). Karenga and Tembo (2012) describe it as an African cultural ideology promoting freedom from oppression and fostering environments for the prosperity of all family and community members. Key aspects include a focus on African culture, women’s emancipation, collective liberation of Black women, and nurturing conditions for African development.

This theory critically examines differences between mainstream Western feminism, Black feminism, and Africana womanism, highlighting Western feminism’s limitations in addressing African women’s issues. It seeks to adopt an Afrocentric approach. Ramose (2003) emphasises understanding womanism and womanhood through an African lens, focusing on life’s centrality, relational reality, and community primacy. Unlike Western philosophies centred on the individual, African traditions recognise Menkiti’s (2004, p. 325) “normative conception of personhood” achieved through community engagement.

Africana womanism addresses the isolation of Africana women from movements that perpetuate inequality, leaving them marginalised in white-dominated spaces (Ntiri-Quenum, 2007, p. 315). The theory has the potential to drive change and significantly contribute to Afrocentric discussions about African women and men (Hudson-Weems, 2019, pp. 294–295). It effectively tackles oppression against Africana women from a strong Afrocentric perspective.

This paper provides a framework for assessing the representation of African women in media, particularly in online political advisements. Africana womanism methodology empowers African women to be authentically represented in narratives about African peoples. It examines authentic depictions of African women’s stances on gender issues in digital campaigns and enables Black women to share their narratives and strengths in South African elections.

6. Research Methodology

This paper employs Africana Womanism as both a methodological and analytical framework, supplemented by Visual Discourse Analysis (VDA), to examine how Black women are portrayed in digital political advertisements in South Africa. VDA is a qualitative research approach that emphasises the significance of visual imagery in conveying meanings and information (Rose, 2016). This method draws on theories from linguistics, sociology, psychology, and cultural studies to scrutinise the interaction between visuals and sociocultural contexts. It sheds light on the construction of images and their reinforcement of particular ideologies, identities, and cultural norms (Rose, 2016). The analysis focuses on the nuanced, intricate, and underlying ideological meaning through which societal assumptions and power imbalances are discursively generated across various contexts.

Africana womanism provides a decolonial analysis perspective that opposes the universalising of women’s experiences, associated with Western feminist theory. In the context of post-apartheid South Africa, this perspective is critical, as it examines visual representations of Black women as integral parts of families, communities, and liberation movements. This framework aligns with the research questions posited. Integrating these perspectives offers a culturally resonant interpretive lens and a coherent approach for analysing how visual texts convey meanings of empowerment, marginalisation, and identity among Black women.

Gammage and Alameen-Shavers (2019), Pellerin (2012), and Hudson-Weems (1997) point out the following foundational principles of Africana womanism as an analysis framework: (1) The necessity for Africana women to define and identify themselves, while dismissing Western feminist portrayals (Hudson-Weems, 1997). (2) The perspective emphasises motherhood as a central element of Africana womanhood and the larger community (Pellerin, 2012), recognising the profound linkage between Africana women and humankind. (3) Africana women’s experiences of motherhood are intertwined with familial and community contexts, signifying their vital economic contributions. (4) Acknowledgement of Africana women’s active participation in the pursuit of social justice. (5) The synthesis of Africana women’s identity and motherhood is deeply associated with racial identity and trauma experiences. (6) Respect for spiritual and moral foundations is emphasised. (7) Admiration for the beauty and resilience in Africana women’s physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions. These principles are crucial for analysing online political advertisements by offering insights and comprehension into Africana womanhood experiences. This paper underscores the significance of Africana womanist analysis by investigating strategies employed by African women concerning gender matters in online political advertisements.

This paper deployed qualitative online research to explore women’s empowerment in online political advertisements for the ANC, DA, and EFF on YouTube. YouTube is selected as the primary data source due to its ability to archive and disseminate official online political advertisements. Online research methods analyse digital content like web pages, hyperlinks, and search engine results (Jungherr, 2015). Quan-Haase and Sloan (2022) highlight social media’s impact on political message design, distribution, and audience consumption, shaping public opinion. Online data involves visual images of online political advertisements from political actors of the ANC, DA and EFF during South Africa’s national, provincial and local elections, which are exhibited both online and offline.

This study purposively sampled 30 online political advertisements from the ANC, DA, and EFF campaigns conducted from 2009 to 2024. The selection was based on the following criteria: (1) the central portrayal of Black women as primary visuals subjects; (2) availability of the political advertisements on YouTube; (3) content officially related to the campaigns during national, provincial, or municipal elections; and (4) alignment with themes of empowerment, motherhood, or community representation. Through visual discourse analysis, the advertisements were thematically coded along five axes drawn from Africana womanism, namely self-naming and identity reclamation; motherhood and communal care; motherhood as economic and family provider; activism and political struggles; trauma, dispossession, and symbolic marginalisation.

7. Data Presentation and Interpretation

7.1. Self-Naming and Identity Reclamation

Figure 1 illustrates Black women in 2014 ANC ads, focusing on “self-naming” and “self-identity” in Africana womanhood. Image 1 depicts a Black woman at the university library. Image 2 depicts Black women as pilots and flight attendants. Image 3 depicts Black women in the university engineering laboratory studying engineering, specifically robotics and AI. Image 4 shows a Black woman wearing a business suit standing in the office building, suggesting an executive role in corporate South Africa.

Beyond simple depiction, these visuals carry complex symbolic meanings, placing Black women within larger ideological frameworks of progress, modernity, and empowerment in post-apartheid South Africa. For instance, the images set in a university library and an engineering lab depict Black women in environments from which they were historically excluded during apartheid, thereby visually asserting their right to participate in the creation of knowledge and technological progress. Their upright, engaged, and purposeful stances denote intellectual authority, while the venues themselves symbolise inclusion in the country’s aspirational goals for economic and scientific growth. Likewise, showing a woman in business attire in a corporate office setting positions her as a representation of professional advancement and upward mobility, in line with prevailing narratives of meritocracy and transformation. Yet, these images also serve as political discourse: by emphasising individual success, they risk obscuring persistent systemic challenges like underemployment, wage inequality, and gendered labour divisions. Through the Africana Womanist perspective, however, these images can be seen as exercises in “self-naming” and “identity reclamation” (Hudson-Weems, 1997), in which Black women symbolically declare their agency, resilience, and presence in spaces long designed to exclude them. Thus, these portrayals not only celebrate empowerment but also highlight the ongoing balance between symbolic inclusion and material inequality in a post-apartheid context.

The depiction of Black women assuming economic and social roles in ANC political advertisements enabled them to adopt new names (self-naming) and redefine their identities (self-identity) as a way to establish “agency” and encourage a united “collective voice” against the entrenched framework of White patriarchal and colonial–apartheid oppression. Throughout the colonial–apartheid era, Black women experienced a “systematic destruction of being a human” (Benard, 2016) because of discriminatory laws that restricted their freedom of movement, denied them property rights, enforced wage disparities, and subjected them to racial and gender discrimination. Additionally, Wynter (2002) pointed out that Black women have historically suffered from “sociogenic trauma” stemming from Frantz Fanon view of the historic colonial-apartheid systemic discriminatory and oppressive economic, political, and social conditions in South Africa, rather than from individual experiences.

The concepts of “self-naming” and “self-identity” are intricately linked to “unnaming”, “renaming”, and “bodily theft”, reflecting how the identities of Black women were manipulated through exploitation to serve the economic and ideological interests of the capitalist systems during the colonial–apartheid era and slavery (Spillers, 1987, p. 23). After 1994 in South Africa, “self-naming” and “self-identity” have become critical for Black women in nurturing “self-definition”, allowing them to select pathways that emphasise their African roots, spirituality, and a journey from being marginalised to becoming empowered social figures as depicted by the women’s professions in Figure 1. By adopting “self-naming” and “self-identity”, Black women defy and resist the dictates of White patriarchal frameworks that arose from colonial–apartheid exclusion. For instance, Dunn and Maharaj (2024) revealed in their study on women’s participation in the South African labour force that a higher percentage of women (61.93%) held professional positions compared to men (38.07%). Women also largely occupied clerical (69.08%) and elementary positions (60.41%), including basic education and primary healthcare sectors.

7.2. Motherhood and Communal Care

In Figure 2, an advertisement from the ANC released in 2014, an older Black woman, dressed in a khiba (a traditional Setswana dress), is depicted sitting at a kitchen table helping her granddaughter with her school homework. Although this scene outwardly emphasises the importance of education and intergenerational support, a more in-depth examination of the visual narrative uncovers the intricate ideological undertones present in its representation.

The portrayal of modest home situates the grandmother as a moral cornerstone of family steadiness, emphasising Africana womanism’s focus on motherly roles and community care as critical for survival and cultural perseverance. Her traditional dress symbolises cultural grounding and dignity, while her posture, leaning attentively toward the child, represents nurturing guidance and the passing of knowledge across generations.

Motherhood from an Africana womanism perspective extends beyond being solely a biological label, transforming into a philosophical and active framework that facilitates strategic crisis interventions while simultaneously acting as a key community support mechanism (Hudson-Weems, 2019). In Africa, motherhood complements rather than competes with fatherhood, forming a core part of African life and serving as a central organising principle that influences how life is built, sustained, and fulfilled (Muwati et al., 2011). From the Africana womanism perspective, motherhood is not confined to biological reproduction but is a vital framework in African life, acting as “a major organising rubric around which life is constructed, sustained and fulfilled” (Epochi-Olise & Monye, 2021, p. 46).

This duality mirrors what Collins (1987) refers to as “controlling images”; the grandmother is celebrated as a symbol of resilience and nurturing; this depiction also reinforces gendered labour roles. From the Africana womanist perspective, these images can be seen as a cultural empowerment, highlighting the centrality of maternal figures to community resilience, despite systemic gender marginalisation. Thus, the visual narrative both honours and acknowledges the cultural leadership of Black women and highlights persistent socio-political disparities that lead to their disproportionate representation in roles involving family sacrifice.

7.3. Motherhood as Economic and Family Provider

Figure 3 shows ANC, DA, and EFF’s digital advertisements featuring Black women engaged in diverse forms of labour: Image 1—a mother working on a farm, Image 2—a mother working as a shopkeeper, Image 3—female healthcare professionals ministering to a male patient, and Image 4—women in municipal street cleaning.

At a descriptive level, these visuals depict women as family providers. However, a deeper visual discourse analysis uncovers how context, body language, and job roles collaboratively shape ideological narratives concerning gender, class, and empowerment. Scenes of farm work and street cleaning visually place women in demanding, low-paying industries, highlighting the persistent impact of apartheid-era marginalisation and structural barriers to formal economic inclusion. Their work clothing and bent-over postures, in uniform or engaged in manual tasks, symbolise both resilience and industriousness but simultaneously convey associations of Black womanhood with subservience and marginalised labour. In contrast, images of women as healthcare workers and shopkeepers present an alternative visual narrative: the healthcare environment, uniforms, and erect posture communicate authority, expertise, and trust, linking Black women to socially valued care work essential to the nation’s well-being.

Together, these visual contrasts generate a complex ideological narrative in which Black women are simultaneously celebrated as essential providers and yet confined within gendered and classed labour hierarchies. Through an Africana womanist lens, these portrayals can be reinterpreted as affirmations of agency and communal responsibility, where women’s economic participation embodies survival strategies, cultural continuity, and resistance to systemic exclusion. Nonetheless, the repetition of such imagery also exposes how online political advertisements mobilise women’s labour as symbolic capital for electoral gain, without addressing the structural inequalities that sustain their economic vulnerability.

Throughout the apartheid era and continuing after 1994, systemic barriers have hindered Black women’s access to formal employment, compelling them to shoulder the primary roles in family support and community care (Dawood & Seedat-Khan, 2023). This situation embodies what African womanists refer to as the “double jeopardy” of racial and gender bias, intensified by economic marginalisation and historical injustices such as land dispossession and deficient education. Furthermore, restrictive pass laws created structural conditions that forced Black women into informal employment sectors, such as domestic work and subsistence activities, while men were drawn into migratory work, leading to fragmented family structures (Beal, 2008).

The working conditions of Black women question Western feminist views that overlook the inherently political nature of Black women’s economic roles, which support community survival and cultural heritage amidst structural injustices and domestic violence (Younger, 2025). Additionally, the labour conditions of Black women in South Africa contest Western feminist assumptions about women’s societal roles and the patriarchal ideology of male economic dominance (Dawood & Seedat-Khan, 2023). Therefore, Africana womanism views the economic resourcefulness of Black women not as a burden due to patriarchal failures but as a testament to their resilience, adaptability, and dedication to the survival of their families and communities despite systematic oppression.

7.4. Activism and Political Struggle

Figure 4 showcases Black women’s involvement in anti-colonial and apartheid movements. Image 1 depicts a mural of ANC leaders, such as Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Albertina Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, with young men cycling by. Image 2 shows a Black woman raising her fist, shouting “Amandla!” (power) among young people. Image 3 is a historic photo of women protesting apartheid’s discriminatory laws in the 1950s. Image 4 features Nelson Mandela with Amina Cachalia, an anti-apartheid activist who founded the Women Progressive Union in Johannesburg in 1948.

Images showcasing Black women involved in activism and political movements range from historic anti-apartheid protests to today’s fights against gender-based violence and economic exclusion. These visuals serve as compelling rhetoric, placing Black women at the forefront of South Africa’s liberation story. Symbolic elements like the raised fist, bold postures, and the collective presence of women in protest underscore defiance and solidarity, visually connecting them with the revolutionary ideals of justice and resistance.

Murals and historical photos ground these images in a legacy of resistance, connecting today’s female activists with iconic figures like Albertina Sisulu and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, along with other historical icons such as Lillian Ngoyi and Dorothy Nyembe. In August 1956, these women activists organised a protest march involving over 20,000 women of various racial backgrounds to stand against pass laws that disrupted family unity and economic security for black people. They marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, calling for the repeal of the oppressive, discriminatory pass laws that limited black women’s movement from rural areas to cities in pursuit of economic opportunities (Wells, 1983, p. 57). The activism of Black women during apartheid suggests disruption, protest, and rejection of the colonial patriarchal systems that constrained the economic, political, and social rights of Black individuals, particularly Black women (Alfando & Wahyuni, 2022).

However, this visual narrative also uncovers tensions: while these depictions honour Black women as symbols of resilience and political awareness, they risk reducing complex histories into overly simplistic symbols of empowerment. The attire and settings are critical in crafting these narratives; traditional clothing in historical marches indicates cultural authenticity, while modern street protests in urban environments highlight urgency and civic disruption.

After 1994 in South Africa, the portrayal of Black women in mainstream media, such as newspapers, radio, and television, has been highly debated. This representation navigates between celebrating popular culture and women’s empowerment and the marginalisation of Black women. Although the transition to democracy promised freedom, media narratives frequently portray Black women either as celebrated heroines in post-apartheid South Africa or tragically as victims of social issues like poverty and gender-based violence (Moffett, 2006). Additionally, modern political advertisements frequently employ the image of the “strong Black woman” to represent resilience and moral authority. However, these depictions often remove the revolutionary political awareness that defined the activism of women during the apartheid era.

Post-1994 South African media tend to focus on popular culture, which often leads to the depoliticisation of Black women. This approach tends to reduce Black women into mere symbols of endurance, stripping away their identities as significant historical agents with complex political and liberation strategies. Such media portrayals perpetuate what Collins (1987, p. 34) refers to as “controlling images”, which effectively diminish the political agency of Black women. In the realm of online political advertising, Black women and mothers are commonly depicted as marginalised and as recipients of political promises like social welfare initiatives, rather than as proactive contributors to social change. This reflects a wider trend within post-apartheid society that struggles to properly honour the revolutionary legacy of Black women liberation movements.

7.5. Trauma, Dispossession, and Symbolic Marginalisation

Figure 5 depicts the trauma of South African black women in post-1994. Image 1 shows a single mother with children amid the debris of demolished shacks. Image 2 features a woman mourning her burning shack, as seen in image 4, possibly with children inside. Image 3 shows a mother beside her deceased child. Images 5 and 6 depict women fetching water from a communal tap in informal settlements. Images 7 and 8 focus on gender-based violence, highlighting a female student feeling unsafe and protesting against violence towards women and children.

On a descriptive level, these visuals highlight women’s everyday struggles in post-apartheid South Africa; yet a critical visual discourse analysis reveals how framing, spatial positioning, and emotional expression work together to construct narratives of vulnerability and endurance. The women are frequently shown in peripheral spaces amid rubble, at communal taps, or in unsafe streets, settings that visually situate them outside of prosperity and formal citizenship, reinforcing the enduring spatial inequalities of apartheid geographies. Their postures, bent over water containers, clutching children, or raising fists in protest, symbolise both suffering and resistance, creating a dual narrative that oscillates between victimhood and agency.

Clothing and bodily expression accentuate this tension: everyday garments and mournful gestures render them relatable and humanised, while protest imagery frames them as collective agents of resistance against state neglect and patriarchal violence. Collins (1987) equates motherhood from an Africana womanist perspective to trauma. According to Greaves et al. (2002), “motherhood under duress” involves mothering under significant challenges, which affects a mother’s ability to care for her child and herself. These challenges include poverty, lack of economic resources, unemployment, domestic violence, and social stigma, among others.

Although the ANC’s online political advertisements images have presented a polished narrative of post-1994 women’s empowerment, stressing advancements and access to housing, healthcare, and higher education for Black women, rival parties like the DA and EFF have embraced a radical oppositional stance, dismissing the ANC’s narrative. The EFF, in particular, highlights the adverse living conditions and socioeconomic challenges faced by Black women left untouched by empowerment efforts, such as homelessness, lack of water, and the dangers of crime-ridden areas. DA and EFF online political advertisements reject the ANC’s portrayal of a transformed post-1994 South Africa, instead focusing on the enduring spatial inequalities rooted in the colonial–apartheid era of gender, race, and class divisions. The ANC strategically employs critical political metaphors like “liberation washing”, “whitewashing”, and “greenwashing”, critiquing how post-apartheid liberation rhetoric has been superficially used to conceal ongoing economic and social oppression of Black women (Boshoff, 2021). These metaphors challenge the deceptive portrayal of liberation and constitutional rights that creates an illusion of equality while genuine disparity persists, leaving the promises of 1994 unmet. Thus, by making Black women’s suffering highly visible to fuel political agendas, the DA and EFF risk being critiqued by Africana womanism, which scrutinises the representation of Black women’s pain for political gain rather than effecting social change.

8. Conclusions

This paper illustrates how South Africa’s three major political parties strategically engage Black womanhood to underpin their diverse electoral narratives; however, in doing so, they replicate visual themes that both validate and constrain agency in the digital space. By incorporating an Africana womanist perspective, this paper offers a decolonial lens that challenges Eurocentric notions of women’s empowerment in political communication. Utilising Africana Womanism for a visual discourse analysis of thirty YouTube advertisements from the ANC, DA, and EFF (2009–2024), this study identified four overlapping themes. Firstly, portrayals of professional achievements—such as roles in engineering, aviation, and executive environments—highlight “self-naming” and “identity reclamation” as described by Hudson-Weems (1997). Secondly, Black womanhood emphasises community care. Thirdly, visual representation glorify resilience of Black women while obscuring ongoing structural exploitation and marginalisation. Lastly, trauma, dispossession, and symbolic marginalisation are iconographic frames of Black women as subjects of poverty and underdevelopment and victims of sexual abuse.

Taken together, these themes underscore a persistent conflict between symbolic empowerment and material exclusion. The ANC champions gradual emancipation, whereas the DA and EFF underscore continuous instability. Nonetheless, all invoke Black female strength, prompting claims of “liberation-washing” (Boshoff, 2021). By incorporating an Africana womanist perspective, this paper moves political communication scholarship beyond Western feminist paradigms and suggests a decolonial approach for scrutinising digital visual rhetoric. This typology enables scholars and professionals to investigate how electoral marketing can simultaneously uphold and challenge post-apartheid gender disparities.

Acknowledging several limitations is essential. The analysis was restricted to publicly accessible material, excluding algorithmic targeting, audience response, and the dynamics of cross-platform stylistic variations on TikTok and Instagram. This study contributes to political communication scholarship by centring African epistemologies in the analysis of digital campaign rhetoric, thereby pushing the field beyond Western feminist binaries. It also advances decolonial scholarship by foregrounding the lived realities of Black South African women and unpacking how their symbolic inclusion masks material exclusion. Future research should examine online audience reception to visual representations to assess their political and emotional impact.