Fikile Masiko
Before a revolution happens, it is perceived as impossible; after it happens, it is seen as having been inevitable. In making this pithy observation, Germany’s celebrated feminist and dedicated revolutionary, Rosa Luxemburg, could well have been galvanising all of us to rally around the noble global project of women emancipation, a project where, as women, we have made huge strides, but where a lot more still needs to be done.
What had seemed impossible for many women in Rosa Luxemburg’s era, more than a century ago, including franchise for women, today seems to have been inevitable. But, behind the successes that the women’s struggles have notched over the past century, have been dedication, tenacity and sacrifice by women who dared to imagine a future where women would not be discriminated against on the basis of gender.
We raise our revolutionary fists in honour of women revolutionaries and activists such as Mam’ Lilian Ngoyi, Dorothy Nyembe, Charlotte Maxeke and many others, that made it possible for us to live the dream of freedom for which they fought for. We owe a huge debt of gratitude because today we have a voice and platforms that they never dreamed of. Yet, the struggle for women emancipation continues.
As South Africa’s women’s month draws to a close, we are called upon to, through our struggles, make what may have seemed impossible yesterday, look inevitable to future generations. To achieve this, we need to up the ante; increase the momentum and be better organised to advance the struggle for total women’s liberation. But, what is the problem statement? What is the context of our endeavours in the current epoch? The United Nations Women Strategic Plan for 2022-2025 boldly declares as its aim the achievement of gender equality, the empowerment of all women and girls, and the full enjoyment of their human rights.
In the context of South Africa, as women we need to address these very practical and everyday challenges which are both a manifestation of gender inequality as well as the prohibitors of the attainment of the goals of our struggle.
We are a country grappling with a very serious challenge of gender-based violence, a challenge that has turned far too many women into prisoners in their own homes, a challenge that has drastically limited the freedom of movement for girl-children as well as our mothers and grandmothers. On a daily-basis we are subjected to gut-wrenching images of brutality that can only be associated with war zones, even as we are not at war.
Acknowledged by government and all social partners as a crisis and a blot on the image of our country and her people, gender-based violence continues to persist. Indeed, it seems impossible to conquer this challenge, but as women revolutionaries we have to convince all our people that victory against this scourge is inevitable.
In this regard, we welcome the outcomes of a study sponsored by KPMG titled: Too costly to ignore – the economic impact of gender-based violence in South Africa, because it sheds light on the aspect of this scourge that, for many years, had been overlooked.
It should concern all of us that, according to this study, “…using a conservative estimate, gender-based violence costs South Africa between R28.4 billion and R42.4 billion per year – or between 0.9% and 1.3% of GDP annually”.
Clearly, therefore, GBV is not about women, but about the kind of society we are trying to build. It would be anomalous, therefore, to expect women exclusively to fight this scourge, when it threatens to destroy the very fibre of our society.
On the economic front, the scales are still stubbornly-tilted in favour of men. Whereas women constitute just above 50% of the country’s population, the nationally Economically Active Population (EAP) figures do not mirror this gender statistic. Men constitute about 55% of the EAP, and women only 45%. Further, in 2021, men accounted for about 74% of top management posts nationally and across sectors, while women made up only about 26%.
The B-BBEE Commission Report of 2022 generally indicated a decrease in black ownership (-1.10%) and black female ownership (-2.17%). This, according to the B-BBEE Commission, strengthens the case for the 40% set-aside of procurement spend for women-owned businesses for growth and sustainability. We are in agreement with this proposal and we would eagerly champion and support it because we understand that in order to bring tangible change, we need to act fearlessly.
Critically, the objectification of women and the predatory culture by men continues unabated. This is where inequality manifests itself in our daily lives. According to Bartky (1990): “Sexual objectification occurs when a woman’s sexual parts or functions are separated out from her person, reduced to status of mere instruments, or else regarded as if they were capable of representing her. To be dealt with in this way is to have one’s entire being identified with the body…”.
The imperative for women to own their bodies and to be happy in their own skin is a dangerous pursuit in communities where toxic masculinity is the norm and where objectification is a normal language. Critically, it is not only boys or illiterate men who are exponents of a predatory culture against women. It is just men in general, whether they are high ranking politicians, men of the cloth or executives.
These examples are just the tip of the iceberg in showcasing the extent of women oppression in our communities. As the Women’s League of the ANC, we appreciate that we shoulder an extra burden, by virtue of our organisation’s incumbency, to not only lament the challenges that we face as women, but to decisively-address these challenges.
We also understand that the Women’s League that will emerge from the interim of rebuilding, must be fit for purpose. It must be a Women’s League that is certainly not content with the status quo of the women’s lot. It is a Women’s League that does not approach the rebuilding period in a mechanical manner, but one that, at a philosophical level, imbues the League as well as her activists with a fresh enthusiasm to carry out its mandate. Critically, it must be a League that is not shy to square up against the established citadels of patriarchy in our society, including amongst the leadership of the ANC itself.
Clearly, therefore, ours as the interim structure, is not only about rebuilding the structures of the League. This period affords us the opportunity to build the League that is in sync with the aspirations of women across the length and breadth of our country, a formidable vehicle where young and old; rich and poor; sophisticated and ordinary will find home. We must take the League back to its roots while adopting the latest strategies to address the challenges of our times. A cadre of the Women’s League must be distinguishable both in terms of content and articulation. A cadre of the Women’s League must be separable from other women’s formations in terms of their conduct and empathy for the people.
As women, both from South Africa and internationally, we shoulder the responsibility to build a new world order, one where the girl child has equal opportunities to the boy child. We have no doubt that the Women's League is not only a participant, but a natural leader of this process. We say this because we understand that revolutions seem impossible before they happen, and inevitable once they have happened. As the Women’s League, we have no doubt that we possess the wherewithal and commitment to make what seems impossible today, seem inevitable to future generations.
*Fikile Masiko is the coordinator for the KwaZulu-Natal ANC Women’s League Provincial Task Team.