Following the elections and President Jacob Zuma's recent cabinet appointments, South Africa has missed its last opportunity – so tantalizingly close – to achieve gender parity in politics ahead of the 2015 deadline, said gender activism NGO Gender Links (GL) in a statement.
Following the elections and President Jacob Zuma's recent cabinet appointments, South Africa has missed its last opportunity – so tantalizingly close – to achieve gender parity in politics ahead of the 2015 deadline, said gender activism NGO Gender Links (GL) in a statement.
The 50% target for women's representation in all areas of decision-making is enshrined in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development adopted in South Africa in 2008.
South Africa came under the spotlight at the SADC Protocol@Work summit, where the theme was "50/50 by 2015, and a strong post- 2015 agenda."
The summit brought together 350 activists and government officials from across the region in the final countdown to 2015 – the deadline for the 28 targets of the Protocol.
The statement said women's representation in parliament dropped from 44% in the 2009 elections to 40% in the 7 May polls, while that of women in provincial legislatures dropped from 41% to 37%.
Following the announcement of the new Cabinet last weekend, the percentage of women remained at 41%. The proportion of women premiers dropped from 55% in 2009 to 22% in 2014. In the 2011 local elections, women's representation dropped from 40% to 38%.
"South Africa is the one country that should have hit the bull's eye," said GL CEO, Colleen Lowe-Morna. The reason for the drop, she said, "is that South Africa has steadfastly refused to adopt a legislated quota, leaving this to the whims of political parties."
The relatively high numbers are owed to the ruling African National Congress' (ANC) 50% quota.
"But the ANC has not always stuck to its quota. And as its majority has declined, both at national and local level, so has the representation of women," Lowe-Morna said. "We rest our case: the issue is too important to leave to the fate of political parties."
The ANC adopted a voluntary 30% quota for women in 2002, and upped this to 50% in 2009. However, the party did not live up to this quota nor did it stick to the zebra proportional representation on the party list, since the first three people on the ANC party list are men.
Out of the 249 ANC seats at national level, 115 (46%) are held by women. This is a 4% decline from 2009.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has always been averse to quotas, said the statement. Helen Zille came under fire for appointing an all-male cabinet in the Western Cape in 2009. Women hold only 27 of the 89 seats (30%). At provincial level, women's representation in the DA declined by four percentage points from 35% in 2009 to 31% in 2014.
In her Western Cape cabinet Helen Zille boasted that she had increased women's representation by 200% as she now has two women in cabinet. She added that she would not discriminate in favour of women because they have x chromosomes or against men because they have Y chromosomes.
"This is simplistic and it is disappointing, coming from a woman leader," said Lowe-Morna. "Zille completely ignores the historical imbalances between women and men. Nowhere in the world have these been corrected without deliberate measures to do so."
The statement said the new kid on the block, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) got a whopping 25 seats in parliament of which only nine (35%) are held by women. At provincial level, the party has 38% women. During Women's Month last year, the EFF said they "view the deplorable condition of the majority of women as a slap in the face for women who sacrificed so much for our liberation". With that in mind, although higher than many other parties, 35% of women is still a slap in the face to gender parity, said Lowe-Morna.
In another show of “blatant gender blindness”, she said, the Inkhatha Freedom Party (IFP) continues to demonstrate a disturbing decline after each election. Out of the ten seats in parliament, only two seats (21%) are held by women. This is a 1% decline from 2009, and a 14% decline from 2004. The decline also extends to the provincial level, down from 35% in 2009 to 20% women in 2014.
Agang, led by a woman, only got two seats. However, party leader, Mamphela Ramphele, said she is not going to Parliament because she wants to reflect on her party's disappointing performance, and is putting forward two male MPs.
In the 2009 elections, the ANC managed to get 50/50 representation of premiers. In 2014, of the eight provinces that the ANC won, men lead seven, while one province is led by a woman (13%). Nationally, there are seven (78%) male premiers and two female premiers (22%).
The Cabinet is where women's representation should be equal to that of men as the President has absolute control, said Lowe-Morna, but women now constitute 15 (41%) of the 37-member cabinet, and 16 (44%) of the 36 deputy ministers.
Just before the elections, the national assembly passed the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill. If approved by the National Council of provinces, the bill will oblige both public and private entities to ensure gender parity.
South Africa could have made a head start with the recent election. "Missing the mark (in) this place and (at) this time sends out the sad message that patriarchy is still alive and well," she said.
Gender Links is a regional non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works with governments in 13 of 15 SADC countries to promote gender equality. www.genderlinks.org.za
