THESEGREGATIONERA
to political power) and poorly paid Blacks (without such access) that had
emerged in Kimberley and Johannesburg in the late nineteenth century, and
the manufacturing
industries applied the same principle. White gold
miners' annual cash earnings were I 1.7 times the cash wages of black gold
miners in 191 I, and 14.7 times in 195 I. In manufacturing, where there was
widespread employment of white women at low wages, the differential was
5.3 in 19 16 and 4.4 in 194 8.5 In 194 6, white income per head in South
Africa was more than ten times that of Africans, six times that of Asians,
and fivetimes that of Coloureds." The material gap between the two white
ethnic communities was closing, but the gap between Whites and Blacks
was as wide as ever and more rigid than ever.
Black South Africans adopted a variety of strategies to cope with their
problems. Most were preoccupied with day-to-day survival. In the reserves,
for example, where. families were split by the periodic absence of men,
women were assuming the full burden of maintaining
tht~ domestic.econo-
my as well as bringing up the children. Christian missionaries were having
a.profound impact on the Afri~an and Coloured populations, however.