A Luta Continua for South African Women
Viewpoint From ANC Today
By ANC Women's League President Angie Motshekga
Viewpoint by ANCWL President, Angie MotshekgaDespite the gains we have made as women over the past 20 years, patriarchy is still not completely defeated. In fact while in many respects it has beaten down and overcome, it manages to transform and adapt and find new ways of trying to bring women down.
We owe much to the brave and bold women who came before us, they have been fighting since the very beginning of our struggle for equality. At the time of the founding of the ANC, women were not allowed to be members, they had to be satisfied playing a background role, serving tea at meetings instead of actively taking part. This demonstrates the enormous leaps and bound women have made in progressing to where we are today.
It hasn't been an easy journey.
It is this struggle for equal rights within the greater struggle against apartheid that makes the contribution of women like Charlotte Maxeke so much more remarkable. But just because women weren't properly organised over a century ago or recognised by the movement does not mean they stood idly by doing nothing about the injustices they faced.
Just a year after the establishment of the Africa National Congress, women began to organise themselves. Despite not being allowed to be members of the ANC they held the first protest against the oppressive pass laws in Bloemfontein.
This was the real start of the women's struggle in South Africa and the first protest organised by black women, influenced largely by a young and vibrant Charlotte Maxeke.
The gains in the fight against gender inequality have opened the way for women of today to progress in all aspects of society through progressive legislation that stipulates a woman's rightful place as an equal to a man in all aspects of life.
However one of our biggest challenges is still inequality in the work place and economic inclusion for women.
As the ANCWL we made it our business at the 53rd Conference of the ANC in Manguang to ensure that across the board through ANC policy the issues women still face today are addressed as a matter of policy.
We have begun to examine the economic environment to ensure that the mainstreaming of women in the economy across all sectors becomes a deliberate commitment to, and is accelerated through, developing measures that will increase women's access to finance, employment, and assets. We are seeing this come to fruition in the proposed WEGE (Women Empowerment and Gender Equality) Bill currently before parliament. We also need a review of all the business and industrial codes, including the BBBEE Codes and mining charters to ensure that women are prioritised, because they are significantly the largest group carrying the biggest economic burden. Women co-operatives need to be fully capacitated with business, financial and management skills for sustainability we are confident that through the dedicated Ministry for small business this can be achieved.
However for some the progress women have made may have happened too fast for some un-progressive men to handle. In some cases the progression of women in the economy and being generally empowered has led to men resorting to violence and rape as a means to exert their power and "dominance" over women. Reports indicate that as a result of women's' success, men are feeling more vulnerable and helpless and this could account in some way to the high rate of rape we are seeing plague our country. This has been seen as one of the possible back lashes of women empowerment and it is something men just have to get used to.
Gender based violence is most certainly one of the struggles women of today have to tackle, what makes this an even bigger challenge is that women cannot tackle it alone. We need men to come on board and assist and really begin to socialise our children differently to the way we were brought up if we are to effectively bring about an end to patriarchy.
Boys and girls should be socialized in a non-sexist manner. This concept needs to be built into our school curriculum, from ECD level. Hopefully this will work to eradicate patriarchy to some extent and the perception that men are superior to women that we see resulting in rising instances of gender-based violence.
The gender agenda should not be perceived as an "act of charity" or goodwill, given that non-sexism is a strategic objective of the ANC. Central to the task of social transformation is the role of the ANC in Government in confronting the challenges of poverty; inequality; unemployment and under-development through the advancement of women and achievement of true gender equality.
The quality of life of women is dependent on their access to basic services and a life free from violence and sexual abuse. The role of men and boys in the struggle to achieve women empowerment and gender equality is critical and imperative and cannot be undermined, downplayed or disregarded.
The age old struggles for gender equality still persist despite the gains we have made. We are not fighting the same fight for recognition and rights on a large scale like our forbearers of the 1956 Women's March we will be commemorating in August, but despite the big battles we have won as women, we are in many ways fighting the same old battles in our little corners. Whether it be in the home or the work place, we still have to work harder and sacrifice more to achieve at the same level.
Due to those gains we are seeing different struggles emerge. Such as those of the successful young woman who has to try to strike the delicate balance between taking opportunities afforded to her to become a success as well as fulfilling their traditional and maternal obligations. It can be a delicate juggling act that perpetuates inequality in another form because men don't have to strike this balance or juggle these roles.
We cannot drop the baton, we can all agree that as women we are far better off today, but we are still not equals. We still need to continue the struggle until we have a situation where women are no longer the face of poverty, inequality and unemployment. A South Africa where women do not have to live in fear of gender based violence, do not have to fear being raped and do not have to fear their intimate partners. To achieve this we need to continue to work together with our male colleagues to change stereotypes and socialise our society differently. We have a long way to go.
Aluta continua...
Angie Motshekga, ANCWL President
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| African National Congress (ANC) Women's League demonstration. |
By ANC Women's League President Angie Motshekga
Viewpoint by ANCWL President, Angie MotshekgaDespite the gains we have made as women over the past 20 years, patriarchy is still not completely defeated. In fact while in many respects it has beaten down and overcome, it manages to transform and adapt and find new ways of trying to bring women down.
We owe much to the brave and bold women who came before us, they have been fighting since the very beginning of our struggle for equality. At the time of the founding of the ANC, women were not allowed to be members, they had to be satisfied playing a background role, serving tea at meetings instead of actively taking part. This demonstrates the enormous leaps and bound women have made in progressing to where we are today.
It hasn't been an easy journey.
It is this struggle for equal rights within the greater struggle against apartheid that makes the contribution of women like Charlotte Maxeke so much more remarkable. But just because women weren't properly organised over a century ago or recognised by the movement does not mean they stood idly by doing nothing about the injustices they faced.
Just a year after the establishment of the Africa National Congress, women began to organise themselves. Despite not being allowed to be members of the ANC they held the first protest against the oppressive pass laws in Bloemfontein.
This was the real start of the women's struggle in South Africa and the first protest organised by black women, influenced largely by a young and vibrant Charlotte Maxeke.
The gains in the fight against gender inequality have opened the way for women of today to progress in all aspects of society through progressive legislation that stipulates a woman's rightful place as an equal to a man in all aspects of life.
However one of our biggest challenges is still inequality in the work place and economic inclusion for women.
As the ANCWL we made it our business at the 53rd Conference of the ANC in Manguang to ensure that across the board through ANC policy the issues women still face today are addressed as a matter of policy.
We have begun to examine the economic environment to ensure that the mainstreaming of women in the economy across all sectors becomes a deliberate commitment to, and is accelerated through, developing measures that will increase women's access to finance, employment, and assets. We are seeing this come to fruition in the proposed WEGE (Women Empowerment and Gender Equality) Bill currently before parliament. We also need a review of all the business and industrial codes, including the BBBEE Codes and mining charters to ensure that women are prioritised, because they are significantly the largest group carrying the biggest economic burden. Women co-operatives need to be fully capacitated with business, financial and management skills for sustainability we are confident that through the dedicated Ministry for small business this can be achieved.
However for some the progress women have made may have happened too fast for some un-progressive men to handle. In some cases the progression of women in the economy and being generally empowered has led to men resorting to violence and rape as a means to exert their power and "dominance" over women. Reports indicate that as a result of women's' success, men are feeling more vulnerable and helpless and this could account in some way to the high rate of rape we are seeing plague our country. This has been seen as one of the possible back lashes of women empowerment and it is something men just have to get used to.
Gender based violence is most certainly one of the struggles women of today have to tackle, what makes this an even bigger challenge is that women cannot tackle it alone. We need men to come on board and assist and really begin to socialise our children differently to the way we were brought up if we are to effectively bring about an end to patriarchy.
Boys and girls should be socialized in a non-sexist manner. This concept needs to be built into our school curriculum, from ECD level. Hopefully this will work to eradicate patriarchy to some extent and the perception that men are superior to women that we see resulting in rising instances of gender-based violence.
The gender agenda should not be perceived as an "act of charity" or goodwill, given that non-sexism is a strategic objective of the ANC. Central to the task of social transformation is the role of the ANC in Government in confronting the challenges of poverty; inequality; unemployment and under-development through the advancement of women and achievement of true gender equality.
The quality of life of women is dependent on their access to basic services and a life free from violence and sexual abuse. The role of men and boys in the struggle to achieve women empowerment and gender equality is critical and imperative and cannot be undermined, downplayed or disregarded.
The age old struggles for gender equality still persist despite the gains we have made. We are not fighting the same fight for recognition and rights on a large scale like our forbearers of the 1956 Women's March we will be commemorating in August, but despite the big battles we have won as women, we are in many ways fighting the same old battles in our little corners. Whether it be in the home or the work place, we still have to work harder and sacrifice more to achieve at the same level.
Due to those gains we are seeing different struggles emerge. Such as those of the successful young woman who has to try to strike the delicate balance between taking opportunities afforded to her to become a success as well as fulfilling their traditional and maternal obligations. It can be a delicate juggling act that perpetuates inequality in another form because men don't have to strike this balance or juggle these roles.
We cannot drop the baton, we can all agree that as women we are far better off today, but we are still not equals. We still need to continue the struggle until we have a situation where women are no longer the face of poverty, inequality and unemployment. A South Africa where women do not have to live in fear of gender based violence, do not have to fear being raped and do not have to fear their intimate partners. To achieve this we need to continue to work together with our male colleagues to change stereotypes and socialise our society differently. We have a long way to go.
Aluta continua...
Angie Motshekga, ANCWL President
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