Women on the rise in politics Leaders for the new Southern African Millennium 14 December 1999, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague

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Conclusions

by Caroline van Dullemen

 

If I were a Buddhist monk, I would have given you one line as conclusion:

Mamphela Ramphele has become vice president of the WorldBank...... Think about it for a second.....

But I'm not a Buddhist monk, this former post office is not a convent and at the end of the day you are not extremely interested to hear me speaking in tongues.

Mamphela Ramphele has become vice president of the WorldBank...... Ramphela was born in South Africa, went to university to become a medical doctor and was banned by the regime for 7 years to remote rural areas because of her political practices as a black consciousness activist. She was married to Steve Biko who was murdered by the regime and became Vice-Chancellor of UCT in 1990.

Things have changed. But by accepting that position suddenly she created a lot of ambivalence. Yes she rose in politics, yes it is in fact incredible that an African now is a vice president of one of the most powerful institutions of the world, yes and it's even more incredible that a radical, left wing African woman is now sitting on that chair.

But...does that actually means the World Bank had changed, or will she just being used to give the bank that human face it is desperately seeking for such a long time? Will she be spokesperson of the Bank and in due time indeed forget where she came from?

Ineke van Kessel explained about women's participation before and after the democratic transitions. Her main conclusions were:

1. The electoral system is of relevance, in the sense that proportional representation is more beneficial for women than the district system.
2. There is no direct relationship between the percentage of women in parliament ant the rank of the country on the gender related development index.

Ramphele made all the steps in the political process: she became a candidate and she got elected. I wish we could meet again in five years time, same place, same time, if only to evaluate her output.

We have been dealing with the same questions today, maybe on a bit modest scale. I cannot do justice to all what is said, but I'll try to summarise the main conclusions.

1. Workshop on education for rural women in politics

This session was so successful that it had two sessions. It was concluded that:

• There is a need to educate women on what, not necessarily who to vote for (gender sensitive issues)

• This educated is also urgently needed with respect to the political structures

• Targeting local initiatives can be very effective for identifying women candidates for political positions and in general for building awareness on gender issues

• There is much corruption in politics (especially related to financing candidates)

• SADC Charter was a breakthrough, but there is a need to monitor its implementation

• A quota system is a good start, but it is important to change the structures to make them more conducive to women's participation;

• There is a need for a Women's Fund to support candidates to compete with men in the elections.

1. Workshop on Women's voice

This morning we already learned a little bit about Dr. Chirwa's life. She definitely knows how to inspire people. Women's Voice is an indigenous human Rights organisation, which was formed in 1993 and is committed to women's education especially on their human rights. But they also dedicated themselves to educate men so that they will accept women as their equals. Now we only have to wait for the first female president in Southern Africa...

2. Workshop on representing the women's movement and NGO's

We heard an impressive story on the political empowering programme in Botswana. The quality of that programme and the persistence of its contributors is remarkable. The gap between female politicians and women's NGO's is closing. Read the Women's Manifesto. It is difficult for women in ruling parties to simply cast a vote. Instead of castigate them for having to make difficult choices, it would be better for women's organisations to support them.

3. Workshop on Women's budget

Interesting discussion on how to integrate gender planning into a budget. Women's budget is a term for analysing the use of economic resources. For exemple as a result of research it appeared that nearly half of the expenditures on trade and industry went into a general Export Incentive Scheme which to a large extend benefited the steel industry which is a highly male centred industry. The publication of the Women's budget creates a lot of awareness raising. It is a form of institutionalisation of gender synthesisation. Why is it so successful? Because it is a joint initiative, it is based on solid research and it has a broader effect on good governance (which is a donor darling these days). But all in all it should not be forgotten that the budget is still deeply discriminatory.

4. Workshop on policy and resolutions on women's leadership in trade unions

Women's issues are taken far more seriously than before. There is progress. In the old days men could not see the difference between having an affair and sexual harassment and when quotas were mentioned, people started to laugh. Now women's committees are everywhere, there are special education and training programmes and maternal leave is well organised, better than for example in the Netherlands. Of course there are still difficulties. The system of electing a shop steward is not conducive for women. There is no affirmative action and often the image of the strong men prevails. Furthermore there is a big turnover from female shop stewards, because they hardly get domestic support. The trade unions in South Africa have difficulties in shifting their position from being opposition to play a constructive role in a sort of Dutch Polder model (collective consultations between unions, employers organisations and the government).

"What if women ran the world'' was the daring title of an article Francis Fukuyama wrote last year in the prestigious magazine Foreign Affairs. Why would Fukuyama (a man, an American, author of the end of history and recently of The Great Disruption) be interested in this highly unrealistic topic? Or was it Madeleine Albright being Minister of Foreign Affairs what made him concerned? I started reading and was relieved when he actually admitted that politics are always gendered, males serving other males interests.

It would seem, he states, that there is something to the contention of many feminists that phenomena like aggression, violence and war and more intense competition for dominance in a status hierarchy are more closely associated with men than women. I think we can all agree on that. Theories of international relations that view international politics as a remorseless struggle for power are in fact a gendered perspective, it means to describe the behaviour of states controlled by men rather than some form of neutral state as such. A world run by women will be different, Fukuyama agrees, and it is the direction that most of the post-industrial (Western) societies are moving. As women gain power in these countries, the latter become less aggressive, adventurous, competitive and violent.

As we participated in the conference today, working or studying international and national politics, most of us seek the goal of greater female participation in all aspects of politics, including foreign relations.

As we heard today, women are gaining power in some Southern African countries slowly but decisively. The actual success formula of the Seychelles stays so far a secret. But I hope you enjoyed it all like I did and I hope that you are able to keep the flame burning. I wish you good luck and a safe journey home.

14 December 1999, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague  back

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