Women’s month in South Africa is a time to reflect on the long road that South African women have travelled from the painful apartheid era to today. It has not been an easy journey for the emancipation of women and there is still a lot to be achieved, especially considering that 2015 is the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals, and the deadline for the achievement of the 28 targets set by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) protocol on gender is just around the corner.
Women in South Africa had to live within a discriminatory environment of apartheid and gender inequality for decades. As the hunger for justice and racial equality topped the agenda before 1994, many women endured torture, imprisonment and exile. However, these struggles were compounded by the struggle for gender equality by women in South Africa and all over the world. The desire for women to have decent work, to participate actively in governance and to break the glass ceiling of the patriarchal society accelerated in the 20th century.
As early as 1912, long before organised movements for women, women in South Africa were already playing a major role against the apartheid regime. This is an indicator of the ability of South African women to organise themselves even in restrictive environments and fight for justice. Women such as Charlotte Maxeke and Helen Joseph stood up and refused to let the apartheid system thrive. They realised the injustices in the mining sector, restrictive citizenship laws, such as the pass laws, and the limited opportunities for women’s economic empowerment. The march to the Union buildings in 1956 was a symbol of the power of women to create a unified voice against the apartheid regime.
When democracy was finally achieved in 1994, President Mandela was clear that the struggle for equality still continues. He observed, “Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression.” Post 1994, women in South Africa have made strides in organising themselves to advocate for a role in policy-making and have a unified voice against social injustices. People from both privileged and disadvantaged backgrounds have come together to join the struggle for gender equality. Although South Africa has made progress in increasing the number of women in governance at local, provincial and national levels, there is still room for improvement for the tangible results to be realised at grassroots level. South Africa currently tops all other SADC countries in terms of women in governance, at 43% in 2011 for women parliamentarians. The major challenge is, however, in making connection between the increase in the numbers of women in governance and greater development at grassroots level. An increase in the number of women at the policy-making level should surely indicate an improvement of the lives of ordinary women at the grassroots level, using the ‘grassroots and grasstops’ approach. However, in South Africa this impact is still yet to be fully seen.
There is need to create synergy between top level policy-makers and the grassroots level through coordination between parliamentarians and local councillors who work with people on the ground. Feedback loop mechanisms from the local levels to parliamentarians and ministries will ensure an evidence-based approach to development that is inclusive for both men and women. It is therefore important to improve existing monitoring and evaluation systems of local level and provincial level governance in order to capacitate women leaders for an effective contribution to the national development agenda.
Women in governance can learn a lot through the adoption of the RARE leadership theory developed by Professor Helicy Ngambi of the University of South Africa. This theory combines the responsibility, accountability, relevance and ethical components of leadership. If such a mix of components of leadership is adopted by women in governance, a shift of the development status quo from compliance for development (e.g. having a quota of women in governance) to implementation of development (e.g. seeing the impact of women in development) will be acknowledged.
The ongoing challenges of climate change, gender based violence, inequality and unemployment in South Africa need to be understood from a grassroots level in order to have sustainable solutions for poverty eradication. Policy-making is necessary to show the level of commitment by national government but this must be complemented with community platforms of dialogue where women can actively participate. As the 2012 African Progress report indicates, inequality remains a major stumbling block for the growth of Africa and South Africa is no exception. The inequality that hinders growth includes gender equality, which I firmly believe should be amongst the priorities of the national agenda for development. The vehicles that are tasked to ensure women’s emancipation, such as the Commission for Gender Equality and the Ministry of Women, have a huge lobbying and engagement role to play in order to rope in all other government ministries and development agencies to fight against gender inequality. These bodies require political will and commitment from other entities in order to close the gender inequality gap and meet the 2015 targets.
Civil society plays a huge role in the improvement of women’s lives in South Africa. The above-mentioned bodies should therefore view civil society as complimentary vehicles towards gender equality, and form sustainable partnerships with civil society. Creating an enabling environment for civil society to function and carry out development mandates is a crucial element for the improvement of the lives of South African women.
The road to equality requires many travellers, including women in governance, civil society and male gender champions, both at the grassroots and grasstops levels. South Africa Women’s month provides a period of reflection, re-strategising and celebration, not only for women but the entire citizenry of South Africa. Happy women’s month South Africa!
