In this essay I will discuss how the glorification of women's role in liberation movements has 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 liberation movements in southern Africa. First I will discuss how the liberation movement viewed women; Secondly, 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 the role of women in the liberation movement occurred. Gender is seen as a social construction that refers to the characteristics that differentiate between a man and a woman; and gender roles refer to the social and behavioral expectations deemed “appropriate” for a specific gender, male or female (Kessler, 1990). Gender Hierarchy and Gender Roles within Liberation Movements During the Southern African liberation movement many women joined the fight for independence against apartheid. South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) was seen as the first liberation movement to excel in fighting for gender equality in its political organization. Even though she had applied the “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 male-dominated and women were seen as second-class citizens or second-class members of the ANC; women's participation in the liberation struggle was largely due to the terms set by men. Women were seen as a collective that served as a support structure for men in the fields, for men “real work” was seen as… . half of the document ...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 lived experiences in the liberation movement and a form of control. Creating a "symbolized" figure of the ideal woman during the struggle serves a political purpose that benefits men in a patriarchal society. The men in power intentionally promoted the glorification of women's role in the struggle in order to diminish the plight of women during the liberation movement. The glorification of women functioned as a way to create a defined role for women, seen as equal but actually socially, politically and economically subordinate to men; it is the vanguard of men in giving women a conditional and restrictive purpose in defining society.