"Democracy has never automatically liberated women,” says former speaker of parliament, Dr Frene Ginwala.
"Democracy has never automatically liberated women,” says former speaker of parliament, Dr Frene Ginwala.
Ginwala highlighted some of the issues, such as poverty, lack of employment and abuse, faced by South African women that remain unresolved 15 years after democracy.
She says that there are many South African women who have made a success of their lives and conquered barriers of gender discrimination and was quick to add a big ‘but’ by saying that these individuals comprise only "a very small number of elite women."
Through this she calls for the realisation that ”rights are not delivered by bits of paper, we have to stand up and claim those rights.”
Ginwala presented an address at Rhodes University last Monday, 3 August. Her address titled ”15 years of Democracy: How free are South African women?” was the keynote address of a week long programme organised by Rhodes University’s Dean of Students office.
These addresses were aimed at raising awareness about the role women have played in society.
Ginwala’s liberating life
Having been on the frontline of women who know how to claim their rights, Ginwala left South Africa as a student in order to arrange the escape of the late Oliver Tambo in 1960.
After 30 years in exile, Ginwala returned to the country and was appointed as a member of the task force to establish the ANC’s Women’s League, one of Ginwala’s many roles, that was instrumental in encouraging the liberation of women in South Africa.
Asked about the Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille’s, decision to appoint an all male cabinet, Ginwala said that having female representation in all aspects of life helps to ”make sure that everybody’s experience is part of the decision making process."
This is something she says she would be willing to tell Zille face to face, if she was given the chance.
To politicians in general, Ginwala asks if they understand role they play in the discrimination of women on the basis of gender ”when they ridicule women about the way they look rather than the policies they stand for.”
Concluding with the statement that women cannot simply blame men for their own oppression, Ginwala maintains that she is ”convinced that there is a genetic defect in male eyes that don’t see capable women.”
