Top African National Congress leaders elected at the conference in Manguang. The ruling party of the Republic of South Africa is celebrating its centenary., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Gender balance lacking in ANC
Friday, 21 December 2012 00:00
Jennifer Thorpe
On Tuesday the new Africa National Congress top six leaders were elected at the political party’s 53rd National Conference in Mangaung. Despite the ANC’s 50/50 gender quota policy, only two of the six are women — Jessie Duarte, who is now the deputy secretary general and Baleka Mbete who will fulfil the role of national chairperson.
No women contested the position of president, deputy president, or secretary general. Are we to be critical of the ANC for a lack of women leaders? Commenting on the election of the top six yesterday, deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe said that, “the ANC is an epitome of democracy.” However, there can be no democracy until and unless women are well represented in all areas of decision-making.
Motlanthe contested and lost the presidency of the ANC to the incumbent, Jacob Zuma, a polygamist whose gender credentials have been the source of concern for activists and embarrassment for the ANC.
At a recent public dialogue hosted by the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) Monitor to assess the efficacy of the CGE over a period of 100 days, Lisa Vetten expressed concern that there are many women in government, as well as many gender focused structures. Yet these do not always have feminist aims. Vetten added that there is a lack of clarity around what “gender equality” actually means.
These statements make clear two questions the ANC and we must ask: Do we know what we want from gender equality and what it actually means in practical terms? Do we do enough to empower the women leaders we do have in government to further feminist aims?
These questions are relevant to the ANC, as well as all other political parties. They essentially force us to ask ourselves whether women leaders necessarily mean better policy, legislation and livelihoods for the women of South Africa.
Without a doubt, “gender equality” has a nice ring to it. But what does it mean? There is more than one type of equality. In a South Africa where women face multiple and varied forms of oppression (race, class, sexuality, age, disabilities, health status etc), it’s possible to use the term gender equality as a rubber stamp, or a marker that “women’s issues” have been dealt with in government.
We have seen a lot of is “formal equality” or the right to be equal to men, for example by occupying political office. This is valuable in itself, because the very fact that women occupy office makes it theoretically easier for other women to envisage themselves in roles similar to this. It is also particularly important for young women in South Africa who need powerful female role models to assure them that they can break the barriers and glass ceilings that still exist.
Yet, often female parliamentary representatives feel compelled to vote according to their political party’s requirements and not necessarily in the interest of furthering women’s rights. Gender equality should not be limited to this narrow definition.
Real and meaningful gender equality requires something more of our political representatives across all parties — it requires that we aim for substantive or lived equality. Unless women political figures are able to vote against the male-orientated policies and legal preferences of their parties, for example the traditional courts bill, they cannot be said to enjoy the full expression of their right to hold political office. At the same time, a critical mass of women is required to criticise gender insensitive policies.
Feminism thus becomes incredibly important. South Africa needs feminists in office who are going to take the risk and push the interests of women, even at the expense of their party.
Jennifer Thorpe is a feminist writer based in Cape Town. She is the editor of FeministsSA.com and MyFirstTimeSA.com.
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