Date: 06/07/2004
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: N Pandor: Girls' leadership camp
ADDRESS BY NALEDI PANDOR, MP, MINISTER OF EDUCATION, AT THE GIRLS LEADERSHIP CAMP, UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL, Westville campus, 6 July 2004
It gives me great pleasure to address you.
It also gives me pleasure to welcome those of you who come from other countries in Africa. Enjoy our beautiful country and I am sure that your presence and participation has already enriched the camp.
This leadership training camp is located within the Girls Education Movement (GEM), a regional, grassroots and child-led movement. In August 2001 President Yoweri Museveni launched the movement in Kampala at a meeting of Ministers of Education from what was then called the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).
In March 2003 our former Minister of Education launched the South African chapter in the National Assembly in Cape Town.
Our aim is to identify and develop a cadre of girl leaders, who will have a deep understanding of gender issues. In the Department of Education we are committed to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, the third millennium development goal.
Creating leadership is tough. Female leaders need to clearly define their space. They need to make the space work for them and they have constantly to balance private spaces against public spaces.
For example, women ministers are made to feel they must work harder than male colleagues, spend less time with family, be more visible in political tasks but not too aggressively ambitious. Clearly you cannot execute all these demands equally well. But you can strike a balance.
We need to have a clear understanding of being female in South Africa and the world, and a supportive organisational network that effectively responds to the training and development demands of new leadership in South Africa.
What then is the condition of women in South Africa?
South African statistics clearly show that women are the most disempowered in South Africa. They are the poorest, the least educated (especially true for the adult female population), they have the worst access to ownership of land and property, and are a minority presence in South African boardrooms and leading-edge companies. Further, the status of women under the law has for many decades been one of disadvantage.
The first target in such a context is to ensure access to education for girls and women. South Africa has done better than many other countries on the continent in ensuring that girls enjoy equal opportunity to education.
Recent statistics on access to higher education indicate that more young women than young men are entering our universities and universities of technology. This points to positive opportunities for supporting young women leaders in South Africa. Yet even in the context of this emerging success, there are worrying trends: fewer female students enter the non-traditional fields of science, technology and commerce.
Current women leaders need to speak about new careers and new opportunities to encourage young women to take up new challenges.
Given that the majority of women are black and poor in South Africa, anyone concerned about creating leadership should focus on ensuring rural poor black girls and women enjoy access to education.
Girls at school are not participating in leadership structures for a variety of reasons: concern over safety, lack of support from other girls, the fear of leadership, or a lack of role models.
You do not have to be a rocket scientist to be a leader. You do not have to be the smartest girl in the class. What you need is "emotional intelligence" to draw people together and to bring out the best in them.
Nelson Mandela says this in his book, Long Walk to Freedom:
"As a leader, I have always followed the principles I first saw demonstrated by the regent at the Great Place. I have always endeavoured to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion."
The leader listens to the people and then speaks the consensus.
During this camp, you will be given the space to talk without any fear of competing with boys or fear of being looked down because of comparison with boys. And please feel free to explain your concerns and how you see issues in real life impacting on you and how you think the Department can help in and out of the classroom.
This training workshop has brought together successful women across all sectors and professions. They support GEM's objectives and your right to choose your own careers. These choices start here within education, as skills are developed and enhanced for a fulfilling future. Learn from these role models. Ask them questions and keep in touch with them for further advice.
We have created a safe/non-threatening space for girls, so that you can share ideas, experiences and good practices with girls from other provinces and countries.
Some of you have already been trained in writing skills during the September 2003 workshop held in partnership with UNICEF. Use those skills to network because networking will be a support mechanism for furthering the goals of GEM.
Remember, recognise the structure of contemporary African societies, and accept the wisdom of your elders, but insist that older people play a supportive/facilitative role, either as individuals or as part of other public and private sector organisations in the network for GEM.
In conclusion, it has become clear after 10 years of freedom that the world needs to be constantly reminded that women's rights are people's rights. This may sound like popular rhetoric, but it is not.
The reason women are asked if they make a difference in advancing the interest of women is the ever-present temptation of subordinating women to 'secondary' or subsidiary issues. The questioners are saying: remember you are here merely because you are female and your task is to ensure you play the primary role of focussing on 'women's issues'.
It has taken much tongue biting for women leaders to calmly respond by reminding colleagues, both men and women, that women are not a separate species.
Women are elected to represent all citizens and must play a role in directing policy and legislative development in all aspects of South African politics.
This approach of 'I am part of the entire organisation and should not be treated or regarded as different and less than' is a challenge all women leaders confront.
Ke a leboga, go out there and occupy the spaces democracy has opened for you. I wish you the best and a fruitful participation in the remaining days of your training.
Issued by: Ministry of Education
6 July 2004
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: N Pandor: Girls' leadership camp
ADDRESS BY NALEDI PANDOR, MP, MINISTER OF EDUCATION, AT THE GIRLS LEADERSHIP CAMP, UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL, Westville campus, 6 July 2004
It gives me great pleasure to address you.
It also gives me pleasure to welcome those of you who come from other countries in Africa. Enjoy our beautiful country and I am sure that your presence and participation has already enriched the camp.
This leadership training camp is located within the Girls Education Movement (GEM), a regional, grassroots and child-led movement. In August 2001 President Yoweri Museveni launched the movement in Kampala at a meeting of Ministers of Education from what was then called the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).
In March 2003 our former Minister of Education launched the South African chapter in the National Assembly in Cape Town.
Our aim is to identify and develop a cadre of girl leaders, who will have a deep understanding of gender issues. In the Department of Education we are committed to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, the third millennium development goal.
Creating leadership is tough. Female leaders need to clearly define their space. They need to make the space work for them and they have constantly to balance private spaces against public spaces.
For example, women ministers are made to feel they must work harder than male colleagues, spend less time with family, be more visible in political tasks but not too aggressively ambitious. Clearly you cannot execute all these demands equally well. But you can strike a balance.
We need to have a clear understanding of being female in South Africa and the world, and a supportive organisational network that effectively responds to the training and development demands of new leadership in South Africa.
What then is the condition of women in South Africa?
South African statistics clearly show that women are the most disempowered in South Africa. They are the poorest, the least educated (especially true for the adult female population), they have the worst access to ownership of land and property, and are a minority presence in South African boardrooms and leading-edge companies. Further, the status of women under the law has for many decades been one of disadvantage.
The first target in such a context is to ensure access to education for girls and women. South Africa has done better than many other countries on the continent in ensuring that girls enjoy equal opportunity to education.
Recent statistics on access to higher education indicate that more young women than young men are entering our universities and universities of technology. This points to positive opportunities for supporting young women leaders in South Africa. Yet even in the context of this emerging success, there are worrying trends: fewer female students enter the non-traditional fields of science, technology and commerce.
Current women leaders need to speak about new careers and new opportunities to encourage young women to take up new challenges.
Given that the majority of women are black and poor in South Africa, anyone concerned about creating leadership should focus on ensuring rural poor black girls and women enjoy access to education.
Girls at school are not participating in leadership structures for a variety of reasons: concern over safety, lack of support from other girls, the fear of leadership, or a lack of role models.
You do not have to be a rocket scientist to be a leader. You do not have to be the smartest girl in the class. What you need is "emotional intelligence" to draw people together and to bring out the best in them.
Nelson Mandela says this in his book, Long Walk to Freedom:
"As a leader, I have always followed the principles I first saw demonstrated by the regent at the Great Place. I have always endeavoured to listen to what each and every person in a discussion had to say before venturing my own opinion. Oftentimes, my own opinion will simply represent a consensus of what I heard in the discussion."
The leader listens to the people and then speaks the consensus.
During this camp, you will be given the space to talk without any fear of competing with boys or fear of being looked down because of comparison with boys. And please feel free to explain your concerns and how you see issues in real life impacting on you and how you think the Department can help in and out of the classroom.
This training workshop has brought together successful women across all sectors and professions. They support GEM's objectives and your right to choose your own careers. These choices start here within education, as skills are developed and enhanced for a fulfilling future. Learn from these role models. Ask them questions and keep in touch with them for further advice.
We have created a safe/non-threatening space for girls, so that you can share ideas, experiences and good practices with girls from other provinces and countries.
Some of you have already been trained in writing skills during the September 2003 workshop held in partnership with UNICEF. Use those skills to network because networking will be a support mechanism for furthering the goals of GEM.
Remember, recognise the structure of contemporary African societies, and accept the wisdom of your elders, but insist that older people play a supportive/facilitative role, either as individuals or as part of other public and private sector organisations in the network for GEM.
In conclusion, it has become clear after 10 years of freedom that the world needs to be constantly reminded that women's rights are people's rights. This may sound like popular rhetoric, but it is not.
The reason women are asked if they make a difference in advancing the interest of women is the ever-present temptation of subordinating women to 'secondary' or subsidiary issues. The questioners are saying: remember you are here merely because you are female and your task is to ensure you play the primary role of focussing on 'women's issues'.
It has taken much tongue biting for women leaders to calmly respond by reminding colleagues, both men and women, that women are not a separate species.
Women are elected to represent all citizens and must play a role in directing policy and legislative development in all aspects of South African politics.
This approach of 'I am part of the entire organisation and should not be treated or regarded as different and less than' is a challenge all women leaders confront.
Ke a leboga, go out there and occupy the spaces democracy has opened for you. I wish you the best and a fruitful participation in the remaining days of your training.
Issued by: Ministry of Education
6 July 2004
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