The Revolution within the Revolution

August, Women's month, is always the best month for the women in South Africa especially those in the ANC. It's their month. It is the time when society in general and the ANC and its government in particular pay special attention to women, their aspirations, hopes, the quality of their lives, their joys and pains. Democracy takes a deliberate moment to focus on how far it has gone in trying to kick out patriarchy, the partner it cohabits with.

In this month we pay tribute to those heroes and heroines who in different ways ensured democracy in our country. The best tribute we can pay to them is to defend and deepen the gains already made and united in action, change the lives of those who have as yet to taste the "better life" in real terms, the majority of whom are the black poor, rural and working class women existing in the periphery of society.

As part of that celebration this article takes a brief stock of the past ten years. It is absolutely critical to say from the onset: MALIBONGWE!
Not only have the ANC and its government opened democratic spaces in society for the participation of women in all spheres of life and for the creation of real democracy and a non-patriarchal society, but it has also led the same campaign in the region and the continent. Amongst others, the ANC government played a critical role in the adoption of the Southern African Development Cooperation (SADC) Gender Protocol with its programme for gender equality and the commitment of the not less than 50% quota for women in all decision-making structures in SADC countries by 2015.

South Africa is currently ranked number 49, the third country in Africa out of the 102 non-OECD countries in terms of the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). It is thanks to the ANC, especially its internal quota system, that after the 2009 elections, RSA is ranked 3rd in the world with 44.5% women in parliament in the Inter-Parliamentary Union ranking. The global average, according to the IPU, is 19%.

The body of legislation that has been added to the already existing laws since 2000, the programmes, the institutional framework, the creation of a dedicated Ministry, the launch of the Progressive Women's Movement, the refocusing of the HIV and AIDS programme and the highlighting of the gender dynamics of the epidemic, are a clear report on the work that our movement has done in the past 10 years. Some of this progress is well documented in the ANC, ANCWL, government, national and international, NGO and other reports. These reports include the Government's Towards a fifteen year review, the country report submitted for the Beijing + 15 Conference as well as other national and international gender equality monitoring institutions reports.

The ANC has achieved within 16 years what many so-called old democracies have yet to achieve in their long period of existence. However, we should be the first to acknowledge that a lot still has to be done.

The Vietnamese feminists say that gender struggles are in themselves a "revolution within a revolution", with no clear demarcated stages. We therefore have to spend the time analysing and praising our achievements, but make even more concerted efforts in diagnosing our shortcomings and weaknesses and finding solutions. This is in keeping with what Cde Steve Tshwete taught us, that we cannot spend a lot of time being "iimbongi" to ourselves on our achievements, but more pressing is the focus on resolving the challenges. President Zuma in the July 2010 NEC also emphasised the need to focus on resolving problems.

This article in celebration of the women's month focuses on some but not all of the pillars the ANC has identified towards the creation of a non-patriarchal society.
Access to and participation in decision making at all levels in society, beginning with the ANC
Improving the status and quality of life of women, creating a gender friendly environment and removing all barriers and constraints to the achievement of gender equality.
Removing all constraints and women-unfriendly practices, including religious, cultural and social barriers to gender equality
A gendered perspective.
Eradication of patriarchy in all its forms and transformation of South Africa into a democratic, non-racial and non-sexist society.
The ANC has long debated and agreed on the need for women to access decision-making structures. It has also long emphasised that quantitative presence or access is not necessarily a representation of women in decision-making nor is it an achievement of gender equality. But as said above, it recognised the importance of access and presence as only one of the critical pillars and indicators on the road map to gender equality.

It was therefore to advance this strategic analysis that the ANC amended its Constitution at the 2007 Polokwane Conference to increase the quota of women in all decision-making structures to "not less than 50%".

Fortunately for women in the ANC, the ANC Constitution is sacrosanct. Or is it? A random check of the implementation of the 2007 ANC Constitution after the 52nd National Conference revealed some interesting results. In addition, As indicated earlier, the ANC government, has been the champion of the SADC protocol and is amongst the countries that went into elections after the protocol was adopted in 2005 The choice of a few of these spheres is simply because they are at the pinnacle of decision-making in society, with some of them where the direction of the lives of the citizens are decided upon. Space does not allow the list to be exhaustive nor does it allow a focus on the spheres outside the ANC and its government.

The response may lie in the complexity of patriarchy, the dynamics within the movement, the problems of unity and cohesion, the tendency towards fragmentation, dirty tricks in lobbying, "amakhasi/slates, cabals and sub cabals" all of which affect the approach to responsibilities and deployment and ultimately, at the altar of which is sacrificed women. Women themselves have also been in the thick of these tendencies and sometimes consciously or unconsciously were gatekeepers against other capable women.

One of the developments in the recent service delivery protests against councillors, is that they were sometimes headed by the ANC or its Allies are women.

Is it really that most women Mayors and Councillors are incapable or is it patriarchy once again in disguised forms which expects women to move out for men? Local government elections will take place in 2011 and the NEC must guide the ANC structures to ensure they don't fail the ANC Constitution.

The ANC leads and it must do so consistently. It has to give its members and society confidence that it means what it says. The Constitution cannot be "nearly met", as some glibly state. It is sacrosanct. The NEC has to find a way of resolving this quantitative and actually easier matter to address on the road to real gender equality.

Women, on the other hand, should avoid the politics of absorption, entryism and "we have arrived" or comfort zone syndrome as these endanger the whole essence of access. It is accepted that women do not enter these spheres as "representatives" of women nor as the ones solely responsible for raising the gender flag. However it is imperative that they lead these, just as we as blacks are expected wherever we are to fight racism in all its forms. Such struggles are our very lifeline.

The critical issue for ANC women wherever they are is therefore to enter these spheres and grab the power to use it for transformation while simultaneously transforming the male definitions of power. We should see power as some of our sisters in the developing world do and as one Chinese gender activist puts it

"We want to use power to transform society, so that certain issues such as peace, social justice, equality become the dominant issues, so that values change� we do not want only to support women to enter leadership position in all spheres of life but also and mainly to transform these spheres". (Jahan, 1997)

The improvement of the status and quality of life of women is not dependent on the ANC and its government alone. It depends on the whole society and all its structures. But the ANC must lead. While there have been many achievements as highlighted in the Beijing +15 report, the report itself identified key weaknesses. Some of these are also highlighted by gender activists and organisations especially in the areas of gender based violence, sexism, access to resources especially health, land, education, decent jobs and wages.

The ANC and its government still has a long road ahead in the creation of a gender and women friendly environment and in removing the many practices that constrain the advancement of women and a faster pace to gender equality.

There are unacceptably high levels of gender-based violence (GBV) against women and girls - in schools, families and communities. Patriarchal attitudes and prejudices are rife, demonstrated in certain cultural and religious practices, which have a devastating impact on women's dignity, and enjoyment of rights to equality and non-discrimination.

Some ANC members and some in the leadership have publicly made utterances or statements that may be perceived as sexist. Some ANC members and even leading figures have been fingered in gender-based violence. The zero tolerance that the ANC shows against any racism or racial connotations has not, in recent years, been as strong when it comes to sexism.

There is also the weakness of silence on public discourse on matters related to culture, tradition or sexual orientation. Sometimes when these matters need to be discussed, some in the ANC then whip out the South African Constitution since it enshrines some of these. At these times the ANC and indeed its allies forget the heated debates we had in the Constituent Assembly process in relation to clauses that sought to balance democracy and traditional authority. There remains a tension between some of our cultural and traditional practices on the one hand and the Constitution of our democratic state.

Some of these practices cannot be ignored as they have an impact on women and gender relations and the understanding of society of gender relations.

We have a diversity of cultures in our society. All of these are dynamic and in constant motion as the environment changes. None of our cultures are static. Some of these cultural issues are very sensitive, but cannot be wished away in a conspiracy of silence in the Alliance. The ANC has always had a culture of discussing and leading on any issue in any sphere and especially on difficult issues. This has to continue. We may not always agree, but our silence in some instances causes problems especially as some of the practices may be taking back the hard-won victories on gender-related matters.

We have heralded the establishment of the Women's Ministry as progressive step forward. Unfortunately, it was bundled with other sectors that on their own need specific, but different approaches. In keeping with patriarchy, and contrary to the ANC understanding of gender struggles, children and those with disability were dumped on the plate of this Ministry as if to confirm that after all, this is exactly what women in society are supposed to do� take care of children, those living with disability and the elderly. In a word, care givers.

Much as it is a Ministry, experience elsewhere have shown, as far back as the 70's and 80's during the rise of the "Women in Development" approach, that if women ministries are cluttered with other matters and are not directly in the Presidency, they do tend to be sidelined. At that time the women's emancipation and gender equality matters were not mainstreamed but "ghettoised" in these under-resourced Womens Ministries.

Hopefully, we have learnt from all these experiences not to commit the same mistakes. The ANC has to assist that Ministry, like all others, but particularly because of the complexity of the issues and the backlog in the sectors it is dealing with.

Gendered perspectives as discussed long ago, but more clearly articulated at the ANC Mafikeng Conference in 1997, especially the Strategy and Tactics include amongst others:
theory elaborating the complexity of patriarchy in South Africa, the "patchwork tapestry" of its character and how it is embedded in and intersects with other unequal power relations and contradictions based on class, race, religion, sexual preferences and orientation and many other unjust relations as well its adaptation to, coexistence with and survival under democracy;
The merging of practical gender and strategic gender needs and struggles
Policies, programmes and institutional mechanisms that mainstream gender so that it is not taken in isolation from other policies and programmes in the economy, safety and security, rural development and land reform, poverty and food insecurity, education, health and indeed in all the ANC government polices, programmes and campaigns.
Strategies, tools and tactics to change patriarchal attitudes and practices with ANC cadres being the agents for change and leading by living lives that reflect their non-patriarchal characters;
Implementation and monitoring tools including institutions, with indicators to review and evaluate the advances made and gaps remaining; and
A holistic transformative approach to the eradication of patriarchy and achievement of a real democratic and non-sexist South Africa.
A lot has been achieved in some aspects but a long way still has to be travelled. These gendered perspectives have been very elusive and sometimes confusing and confused. Fortunately the July 2010 NEC, after realising some of the weaknesses, has accepted the need to "gender-edit" all the reports and presentations to the NGC, produce a specific paper that will focus on "gendered perspectives", how far we have gone and what's to be done where weaknesses are identified.

Malibongwe!