Speech by the Deputy Minister of the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services,Honourable Prof. Hlengiwe Mkhize

During the Occasion of the International Council of Women’s Executive Committee Meeting

The Grand Hotel Taipei, Taiwan

14 November 2016

Topic: "Women in Power, Society in Transformation"

Introduction
The International Council of Women (ICW) is the first truly global women’s NGO which was founded in 1888 for the advancement of women all over the world. For the past 128 years, the International Council of Women has remained an active pioneer in promoting international women’s rights. ICW was there when the United Nations was formed to make sure the United Nations Charter included women’s equal rights and the Commission on the Status of Women be established. It was there when the International Women’s Year was proclaimed in 1975.

Background
The South African Women’s Movement for socio economic emancipation dates back to times before 1954 when women of all races converged to Pretoria to present a Memorandum to the then ruling white racist government. The Memorandum was expressing protest against apartheid draconian laws that were subjecting women of all races into a status of perpetual minors that were prohibited to own land or enter in to any form of contracts.
South Africa achieved democracy in 1994 central to this democracy there was a commitment to equally, including gender equality and women empowerment. The founding principles of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa include human rights, equality and freedom for everyone in South Africa.

Section 9 of the Constitution protects the rights of all persons to equal protection and benefit of the law and freedom from unfair discrimination on the basis of gender, sex, pregnancy and marital status among other things. The commitment to build a new society that is inclusive and just that honours the fundamental human rights, while improving the quality of life for all, stands out .The equality is also given prominence in the preamble to the Constitution where it is stated that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, United in Diversity.

The fall of the apartheid government and emergence of the democratic State in South Africa led to emancipation of women in as far as legal and constitutional rights are concerned. However traditions and social cultures still oppress women in their day to day lives. As much as the country has achieved all these successful laws women emancipation still a remains a challenge.

Achievements
According to article 18 on rights to protection of family women, children and people with disabilities there is an equal clause in the Constitution on which South Africa has made significance progress in the promotion of children rights supported by a number of pieces of legislation including the Children’s Act, of 2005 which came into force in 2007. On prevention of trafficking of women and children the country has an Act on the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking of Persons, Act 2013. This is a comprehensive law that deals with issues of human trafficking.

In terms of combatting sexual violence the country has promulgated the Sexual Offences Act that outlaws any form of sexual abuse .On domestic violence every year the country takes part in the global 16 Days of Activism against Abuse of Women and Children Campaign which runs from 25 Nov (International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women through the International Human Day on the 10 December. While the campaign runs for 16 Days each year, its objectives are to reinforced by a yearlong programme and national plan to combat abuse against women and children in South Africa.

The government, business, civil society organisations, faith based organisations, and the media are all participating in the drive to increase awareness of the negative impact of violence and abuse of against women and children. The constitution of the country protects all South Africans including the older persons as the country is aware of the vulnerability that comes with old aged. The Older Persons Act of 2006 stands as one of the key intervention to stop abuse of older persons in the country. South Africa has adopted a number of measures to ensure that people with disabilities enjoy the fundamental rights and freedom. This includes the ratification of the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007. The promulgation of the Employment Equity Act in 1998 including recent amendments made to this Act as well as the recently adopte4d White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that was endorsed by the cabinet of the South African government in December 2015. This policy sets out the duties of each government department at national, provincial and local level in regard to advancement of the rights of persons with disabilities.

Specific Achievements in the ICT Sector
The Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services who is tasked with the responsibility of developing polices for the ICT Sector has recently crafted the National Integrated Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Policy that includes several provisions for the empowerment of women in the ICT Sector. The department has also released the Broadband Policy that outlines the plan to connect South Africa and the needs of women as again been centrally placed as part of the implementation of the policy. The department is currently developing an e-Strategy for the country and one of the key focus areas of this strategy is e-inclusion which focusses on improving the access and uptake of digital opportunities by women, children, youth and persons with disabilities.

The department has also recently launched the Gender and ICT Strategy that acts a overarching guiding document to the department, State Owned Companies and the broader ICT sector in regard to gender equity and gender mainstreaming within the ICT Sector. The strategy includes areas such as Using ICTs to Combat Abuse against Women, The role of ICTs in Empowering in Decision Making Processes to name but, a few that is applicable to this forum and the discussion that will transpire here.

The democratic state machinery and gender equality
History teaches us that when societies transform the dominant value systems of patriarchy, racism and sexism do not disappear completely but they transmute and continue to stalk our societies in more subtle forms. Commenting on the persistence of dominant value systems, Former President Mbeki during his address on the occasion of the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture stated “The dominant social values (in our case those such as racism, sexism, tradition, religion and patriarchy) manifest in the democratic state machinery that had, seemingly “seamlessly”, replaced the apartheid state machinery. The new order born of victory in 1994, inherited a well entrenched value system”
I am raising all this not to denigrate our glorious movement but to point out that the intention to do good, however noble in its purpose, does not guarantee that such good will be done.

It is increasingly clear to me that our society needed more than just to transform, but needed a revolution. In his celebrated book “The structure of Scientific Revolutions” Thomas Kuhn points out that all major scientific breakthroughs and discoveries, were marked by a break with tradition. All revolutions, by definition, seek to replace one social order with another. It is for this reason that I make bold to say that we need a socio-political revolution, that will uproot the dominant value system that continues to block women from being, as the topic suggests “Presidents of their own country” and replace it with a new social order and a value system that not only makes it possible for the girl-child to aspire to be President, but actively encourages it.

Towards a society amenable to women involvement in political processes
But what will this desired social order look like? What will need to be done to realize this new look South Africa that is amenable to women joining the political process? Nadezdha Shvedova in International IDEA’s Handbook: Women in Parliament: Beyond numbers identified a number of areas that need re-looking, as a first step towards approximating the ideal. I found these to resonate with the South African conditions:

• Education and Training. There is an urgent need to expand the pool of women who are qualified for recruitment in political careers. One way to do this is to give women access, from an early age, to work patterns that are conducive to political leadership, such as special training in community-based organizations. Common understanding of the concerns of women, gendered political awareness raising, lobbying skills and networking are important for the process of training women for political careers. Women’s leadership schools play a special role. Special attention should be given to young women in political participation.

• Political Party Support. Women play an important role in campaigning and mobilizing support for their parties, yet they rarely occupy decision-making positions. The selection and nomination process within political parties is also biased against women in that “male characteristics’ are emphasized and often become the criteria in selecting candidates. An old boy’s club atmosphere and prejudices inhibit and prohibit politically inclined women from integrating themselves into their party’s work. Women are often put in a party list in order that they not be elected, if their party wins insufficient votes in an election.

• Cooperation with grassroots women organizations. Grassroots women organizations need to work with political and government institutions, to secure electoral changes to facilitate women’s nomination and election. In recently developed or partially developed democracies, there are limited contact and cooperation between women politicians and women’s organizations as they tend to keep their distance from women MP’s. They do not invest in organized channels of communications and lobbying on issues related to promoting women to decision making-levels. Experiences in established democracies reveal that women organizations do affect women representation in Parliament.

• Socio-economic Obstacles. In South Africa like in most developing democracies, poverty and unemployment are feminized. It goes without saying that the social and economic status of women in society has a direct influence on their participation in political institutions and elected bodies.

• The effect of development and culture on women representation: Development correlates with women’s representation levels. Development leads to a weakening of traditional values, decreased fertility rates, increased urbanization, greater education and work force participation for women and attitudinal changes in perceptions regarding the appropriate role for women – these factors increase women’s political resources and decrease existing barriers to political activity. Development increases the number of women who are likely to have formal positions and experience. Culture is related to development and, as development increases, women’s standing in society relative to men becomes more equal. More women start to acquire the resources needed to become politically powerful – resources such as education, salaried labour force experience and training in the professions that dominate politics. This leads to the formation of a critical mass. When the number of women with the necessary resources becomes substantial, they then start to become an effective interest group demanding greater representation.

• The dual burden: Women also have to contend with the dual burden of domestic tasks and professional obligations. A traditional, strong patriarchal value system favours sexually segregated roles, and traditional cultural values militate against the advancement, progress and participation of women in any political process. The image of a women leader requires that she be asexual in her speech and manners.

The more authoritative and “manly” a woman is, the more she corresponds to the undeclared male rules of the game.

• Eradicating the prevalent masculine model of political life and of elected governmental bodies. Political life is organized according to male norms and values, in some cases, even male lifestyles. For instance the political model is based on the idea of competition and confrontation, rather than on mutual respect, collaboration and consensus building. This environment is often alien to women. The result is that women reject politics altogether. The content and priorities of decision making is different for men and women. Women tend to give priority to societal concerns such as social security, national health care and children’s issues.

• The role of the mass media: In any society the media has two roles – to serve as chronicler of current events and as an informer of public opinion. Often the media tends to minimize coverage of events of interest to women. The media, including women publications, does not adequately inform the public about the rights and roles of women in society. Women’s job is to build a civilized society according to a paradigm that reflects their values, strengths and aspirations, thereby reinforcing their ability to be attracted to and to participate in political processes.

Conclusion
The limitations and obstacles to women attaining a political role, not only deny them their democratic rights, but also undermine democracy. Democracy does not mean political rights for males citizens only and it should not in any way be discriminatory in its application. The extent of women participation in political leadership of any society is the litmus test of the progress of democracy. It is my fervent hope that as we celebrate 100 years of the ANC’s existence, we take the time to review the work done and to plan ahead for another 100 years.

In conclusion I would like to take this opportunity to remind us of the fact that there is a best seller called “Men buys shares on Mars and Women are opening saving accounts in Venus” as this book indicates that there is a big desperately in terms of income between men and women and that there is still a need for empowerment of women especially in regard to economic participation.

I thank you.