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WE ARE WOMEN - CELEBRATING DIFFERENCE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT.

Thank you for the opportunity to share and celebrate South African National Women's Day with you.

Although I believe every day is women's day, we are very lucky in South Africa, because we get two days to celebrate our womanhood - on our national commemoration day and on International Women's Day!!

It is always an inspiration to recount the events of that day in 1956, when twenty thousand women gathered on the steps of the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest to Mr JG Strijdom, the then Prime Minister, about the impending pass laws that would severely restrict their freedom of movement.

It was on that day that the women cried out: "Strijdom, Whatint' abafazi, wathint' imbokodo. Uzakufa!" - you have tampered with the women, you have unleashed a boulder. You will be crushed." No modern day spin-doctor could have come up with a more rich and compelling image. This was a battle cry - a cry to move forward, to consolidate advances made in the women's movement and to challenge unjust laws.

There is an irony to this story that I would like to share with you today. Strijdom is known in South African history as one of the architects of apartheid. He did indeed die within a month of the march on the Union Buildings.

In the late 1960s, in Pretoria, an open public square was named after him by the then government, and a statue, an enormous bronze cast of his head, many times larger than life, was erected in his honour.

This year, on the 31st of May, the anniversary of apartheid's republic day, in the early hours of the morning, the enormous bronze head of Strijdom came off its pedestal and crashed into a parking garage below. It lies there still. Quite literally, it was crushed. The cause of the accident was a combination of flawed architectural design, weathering and temperature change.

For many South Africans the spectacular demise of the "total onslaught" statue, the significance of the day chosen by fate for its undignified departure, the place, the man and the women's prophetic cry resonated with irony and symbolism.

South African women have come a long way since that mid-winter's day in 1956.

* We have a Constitution and Bill of Rights that purposefully protects the rights of women and all vulnerable groups in society.

* In response to the social justice imperatives contained in our Constitution, our Parliament has drafted vast amounts of legislation, fashioned with skill and dedication by a legislature that has responded admirably to the often-unpredictable dynamics of transition.

* We are proud signatories to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the SADC Addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women and Children and we actively participate in the Beijing Platform for Action.

* The South African government has been exemplary in advocating equitable representation of women in decision-making positions. In part, this has been done by reserving for women a number of seats in all three spheres of government. The representation of women in government at the moment stands at 30% of seats in the national Parliament; almost 28% of the seats in the nine provincial legislatures; and 18% of the seats in local municipalities. This is, I believe, a remarkable achievement.

* Our government has not only sought to increase the number of women Ministers and Deputy Ministers, but a significant number of them have been appointed to 'non-traditional' key positions such as Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, Minerals and Energy and Public Service and Administration. Today I think it may be useful to remind ourselves that just eight years ago, there was but one woman in the South African Cabinet and she had the distinction of being the first ever-female member of that Cabinet. Clearly, we have come a long way!

* The birth of our post-apartheid Constitution also gave rise to the development of a robust gender machinery to advance social justice by working towards making every fundamental human right in our Bill of Rights a real and tangible experience for every woman, child and man.

In essence, we have an African-designed agenda to deal with poverty and underdevelopment in which the substantive and sustainable empowerment of women is a leading and recurring theme. We have placed our micro political goals within a holistic vision of which not only South Africans but also our neighbours and fellow Africans will be the beneficiaries.

The Millennium African Recovery Programme (MAP) - the brainchild of our far-sighted President Thabo Mbeki - is setting the agenda for a new and imaginative sustainable development framework.

The MAP design, arrived at through a consultative and negotiated process with fellow African democrats, will benefit not only South Africans, but the entire African continent and will serve as a model to all third world countries who are still struggling to overcome the devastation of centuries of colonial rule and exploitation.

The fight against poverty and underdevelopment is the theme that dominates both our national and international socio-economic and political discourse. Our vision for a marshal plan for countries ravaged by acts of racism and exploitation is ready to face the glare of international scrutiny at the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, to be hosted by South Africa later this month.

This conference will provide a unique opportunity to promote demonstrable reconciliation between exploiting and exploited nations and, given a chance, could provide a plan for a positive and constructive way forward.

It is against this background that the achievement of true empowerment for women across all race and class barriers, and most particularly for black African women, remains a subject of national discussion and lies at the very centre of much of South African policy formulation.

But, as proud as I am of our achievements, I have to tell you today, that it is not yet enough. We still have a very long way to go. And the hardest part of the journey probably lies ahead of us. As disquieting as this thought may be, I believe it is accurate. And I am not alone in this view.
In his state of the nation address in February this year, President Thabo Mbeki noted that the government had, as yet, failed to achieve the necessary progress on gender equity, a fact that is and will continue to impact negatively on South Africa's growth and development. He sounded a clarion call for even faster and more effective implementation of policies and practical programmes to facilitate women's empowerment.

You see, however much better South Africa might be for me, and for professional women like me, and other women who are employed, the simple truth is that most South African women do not yet have either the resources or the capacity effectively to change their lives for the better. And I believe that it is to them, especially, that we should turn our thoughts on Women's Day in 2001. It is they who should be the focus of our attention in the months and years to come.

Realising rights is now our preoccupation. While our Constitution is regarded, as one of the most progressive in the world, our challenge on a daily basis is to realise the rights it envisages. We know that the majority of women continue to face marginalisation and discrimination in their homes, workplaces and communities. We will only succeed in our task if we manage to close the gap between ambitious, legislative measures and tangible implementation and delivery on the ground. It requires giving effect to substantive equality.

Before I go on, I need to provide a profile of the South African Woman for you. Because if we are to address the harsh conditions she experiences daily, we must relate to her reality. Women (1) constitute 52% of the total population and almost half of those (47%) live in rural areas, with little in the way of infrastructure and social services. In addition, women constitute 56% of the unemployed and 21% of women over 20 are still illiterate. Finally, 60% of female-headed households live in poverty as compared to 31% of male-headed households.

Now put this South African woman on the global stage. It is a fact that in the past decade the number of people living in poverty has increased. Moreover, poverty has increased disproportionately for women, and particularly for women in the developing countries, and that includes South Africa. Why does this feminisation of poverty persist?

The answer to this question is two-fold: First, despite the real strides that have been made globally and in my own country, there is still an overarching failure to mainstream a gender perspective into all political, economic and social transformation processes. Secondly, much of what is being done towards the overall empowerment of women is being done on paper.

I also believe that this is far from unique to South Africa. All over the world, in developed and less developed countries, there are good laws, progressive laws, and there are high-minded policies. But there is, to my mind, not as much concrete action as is necessary to really make a difference to the lives of marginalised women and women who have fewer resources and less capacity than they need.

Transformation in the world economy is changing the parameters of social development in all countries. Gender disparities in economic power sharing are a major factor contributing to the impoverishment of women and militate against their equitable access to and participation in the global economy. Migration and consequent changes in family structures have placed additional burdens on women, especially those who provide for several dependents.

The special situation of rural women within the context of globalisation is of particular importance to us in South Africa. As the silent majority these women play a significant and often painful role in catering for economic subsistence, family survival, food security and shelter provision, to name but a few responsibilities they have, of necessity, to undertake.

In a development-based environment, the fundamental premise for entry into the economy, especially at a subsistence level, is equal access to the enabling resources. Women and especially rural women, if they are to survive, must have equitable as well as equal access to land, housing, water, credit, technology, education and health services. Sometimes this means creating special, gender-dedicated structures and services for women. Simply bringing about equality can, and often does, lead to inequity and that is what these dedicated structures and services should be militating against.

So while much remains to be done in the future, what have we done to bring the concepts of social justice and empowerment for women closer to reality?

I think that Johanna Kehler's description of the challenges that face us, as South Africans are largely indicative of the international experience. In her June editorial for the publication Rights Now she says:

"What ever the way forward might be, it seems that as long as the discourse about the realisation of women's rights is not contextualised within women's realities of increasing poverty, as well as within processes of privatisation and globalisation, the discourse will remain on the surface and the "real" issue will not be addressed. Secondly, as long as the issue of achieving gender equality is not linked to the issue of poverty eradication, the achievement of gender equality will remain a theoretical exercise. And finally, as long as measures aiming at the promotion of equality and elimination of gender-based discrimination are not coinciding with measures aiming at women's empowerment, women will be further marginalised and discriminated against based on their womanhood."

The South African government has shown - and continues to show, its determination to incorporate gender into all its policies, plans and programmes. We don't bank on miraculous overnight changes - transformation is a long-term process. It is and will continue to be, implemented in stages and phases that always remain subject to national priorities as well as sufficient capacity and available material resources.

One of the most important mechanisms for realising the rights of women in South Africa is the National Gender Machinery.

Technically, we say that the National Gender Machinery has three arms. One is headed by the Office on the Status of Women, situated in the Presidency, acting principally in the public sector. The second, headed by the Commission on Gender Equality (GCE), has, to date, acted principally in the private sector. The third arm consists of the members of the Portfolio Committee on the Quality of Life and Improvement of the Status of Women. This Committee monitors and reports on the gender responsiveness of all policies and legislation. Importantly, it participates in the formulation of a gender budget to audit the extent to which real financial resources are being applied to gender transformation.

Last Sunday, South Africa saw the beginning of a National Gender Summit, convened by the Commission on Gender Equality. Women from all over the country came together for five days to take stock of how far we have come as a nation, in implementing the gender ideals espoused in our Constitution and in the various international conventions that we have ratified.

I spoke, before I left, to one of the participants, a member of Cabinet, and she gave me a list of some of the questions that she would be putting on the gender agenda. These questions (2) are probing to say the least and the answers that will be provided at the Summit will ensure sound guidelines for an amended and renewed way forward.

An internally driven and motivated model for social change is critical. The strength of our transformation and reform process is that it has come from within the South African community itself, taking into account the country's cultural, political, social and economic environment.

In South Africa the demand for formal equality has matured into the current campaign for substantive equality. We now base our work on the premise that inequality, like poverty, has various causes, including structural ones. And that inequality, like poverty, is a complex, multidimensional problem with origins in both the national and international domains.

Our point of departure is that women's rights are fundamental human rights. Our actions are based on the belief that the rights enshrined in our Bill of Rights are indivisible - a belief that has required us to draft policy and manage implementation in a holistic and integrated manner.

In the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development we have launched a specific gender policy document, to provide us with the broad framework for our way forward. We have translated key policy aspirations into wide-ranging legal frameworks that are in primary implementation phases or in the process of being rolled out.

In fact, our law reform process has actually been dramatic, with decisive statutory interventions such as the Domestic Violence Act, and the Maintenance Act, and the introduction of minimum sentences for serious crimes.

Probably the most important piece of legislation to have emerged from a broad consultative process is the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. This Act is scheduled for comprehensive implementation later this year. It will be our model law to combat and punish acts of discrimination, whether on the basis of race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.

Our administrative reform processes have emphasised access to justice and the development of a new era of victim empowerment with the introduction of witness support devices to eliminate secondary victimization of, in particular, child victims or survivors of sexual abuse.

The Gender Policy Statement is a bold attempt at balancing the scales of justice through gender equality. By embracing the concept of substantive equality, it has moved beyond the notion of formal equality to embrace the accommodation of 'difference' both between men and women and difference amongst women. This paradigm shift has opened the door for dealing with women's experiences in South Africa, particularly the compound oppression suffered by African, rural, working class and poor women, as a direct legacy of apartheid.

But how do we make sense of the rich diversity of women's experiences arising from the differences of race, economic class, sexuality and many other categories of 'other'?

Economic reforms, trade liberalisation and globalisation offer women's empowerment threats, challenges and opportunities Advances made in the field of labour legislation for example could come under threat from large multi-national corporations. We have real indicators that private sector responses to rights-based labour legislation have not been entirely positive.

This is evidenced in our country by the increasing casualisation of the workforce. Traditional employee/employer relationships are increasingly being replaced with fixed term, benefit-free contract work agreements. On the other hand, the less formal structure of the work place is also offering women greater freedom in balancing professional and domestic aspirations. For those few with the capacity and infrastructure, informal networks, hybrid publications and cyberspace, with web-pages, chat rooms and e-mails have multiplied women's voices as never before.

This networking opportunity offered by globalisation has strengthened the voice of women around the world. The past decade has witnessed what has been termed the "third wave of feminism" which has distinguished itself by embracing differences and finding strength and unity in diversity.

At the core of this new approach is an attempt to base the analysis of politics on the experiences and perspectives of women, rather than men; a view first raised by black feminists over a decade ago.

In her anthology on Politics and Feminism, Barbara Arneil describes the new approach as follows: "This new feminism begins with concepts of difference rather than sameness ... it respects difference of perspectives among women ... and it recognises the multiplicity of identity..."

The millennium generation feminists are calling for a new understanding of the 'personal is political.' This new subjectivity does not consider gender alone; it includes all aspects of identity (sexuality, race, class and ability) It calls for a language and politics of 'hybridity' that reflects the collective experience marked by the realities of multi-cultural exchange, fusion and conflict. It encompasses lives that combine blackness, whiteness, brownness, gayness, bisexuality, and straightness.

We must seize the moment to build allies for a new and inclusive feminist agenda and we must determine a new approach. We must put in place a global network of people who share our new vision. We must unite the voices within the trans-national women's movement to become an even stronger player in the international policy arena. As women, we must carve our role as institutional players in global politics. We must work towards eradicating the marginalisation of especially poor women wherever they exist.

We cannot reach consensus without addressing the structural causes of poverty and disempowerment. Our challenge now is to identify and cultivate a socio-economic and political common ground within a framework of widely ranging ethnic and national identities across the North-South divide. While building common ground, all participants must maintain and respect differences to reflect the dignity of individual experiences.

I believe that the inscription on South Africa's post apartheid Coat of Arms - the highest visual symbol of our new democracy - can guide us is this new era. The motto! ke e: /xarra //ke, is written in the Khoisan language of the /Xam people, the oldest known inhabitants on the southern tip of Africa. It means literally: "diverse people unite". It calls for unity in diversity and the recognition of a common humanity regardless of race, class or gender.

Footnotes:

1. These statistics come from the 1999 October Household survey and the UN Human Development Report on South Africa 2000

2. Due to the obvious time constraints I have added the questions as a footnote:

- Can we honestly say that, given the time that has passed since the advent of our democracy - over seven years now - we have achieved all that it was possible to achieve in that time?
- Can we honestly say that we have used our resources, however limited, wisely, appropriately and to the maximum benefit of all South Africa's citizens, especially our women - all our women?
- What do people, especially women, understand by the phrase 'national gender machinery?
- How visible is the machinery?
- In what ways, if at all, does the machinery touch the lives of South African women?
- What difference does it really make?
- If we randomly stopped women and men in the streets of an average country town or a rural village, and asked these questions, what do you think the answers would be?
- Would they be different in cities?
- Would they be different if we were asking them at tertiary institutions?
- What would secondary school learners say?
- What would members of parliament say?
- What would people in the public service say?
- What would farm workers and domestic workers say?
- What do we ourselves say?
- Does the machinery actively acknowledge this in its thinking and in the work that it does, or is it tending to see women either as a homogenous whole or in terms only of successful employed or professional women?
- To what extent does it cater specifically for unemployed women, disabled women, rural women, poor women, elderly women, and so on?
- When we reflect on our gains generally, can we also point to measurable gains for all of these groups of women and the sub-groups within these groups, or are we only considering those women who have been relatively successful in their various fields of endeavour?
- There can be little doubt that the face of poverty in South Africa is overwhelmingly the face of women, and particularly of black women. Are we making significant inroads into the domain of economic power?
- To what extent are the economic gains that have been made felt by women generally?
- Why was a recent report of the Black Economic Empowerment Commission virtually silent on gender issues?
- Is the machinery doing enough in this all-important sphere of society?

Issued by Ministry of Justice & Constitutional Development

9 August 2001