Kgokelo

Gender is not a simple construct.

We recognize that by offering a space for “women and gender-diverse playwrights”, not everyone may feel fully represented by the language we have chosen to use. The choice to use the collective term “South African women and gender-diverse playwrights” is merely a matter of consistency and efficiency. We have chosen to use the term “gender-diverse” as a shorthand for the multitudes of genders outside of women or men but recognise that it does not fully capture the identity of all individuals who are gender diverse.

We recognize that the landscape, language, and linguistics around gender is an ever-evolving conversation and we have chosen to be consistent in our language merely as an entry point into the database. We want to ensure Kgokelo can be found by those who need it and to do so, we have made a conscious choice around the keywords that may drive our audience to the site.

Beyond this, over the years there have been many conversations surrounding the spelling of the word “woman”. We have shifted between “woman”, “womyn”, and “womxn” as the conversations around language and meaning evolve. For consistency, we-as the team behind Kgokelo-have chosen to spell “woman” as it has historically been spelt and believe this does not misrepresent those individuals who identify with the term “woman”. However, where someone feels this is a less preferable spelling, they have the choice of being represented on their Artist Profile page with the spelling that aligns with their identity and politics.

We recognize the political language of gender is ever-shifting and we’ll do our best to align with the changes as they come. We are humans running this database and we are doing our best with the tools we have to do the work we believe in. We know that language plays an integral role in that but also recognize the need for consistency and efficiency when in the digital space.