KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY LN SISULU MINISTER OF HOUSING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN’S CELEBRATION OF THE 50^TH ANNIVERSARY OF NATIONAL WOMENS DAY

University of Cape Town

7 August 2006

Cape Town

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The Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Njabulo Ndebele

Deans of Faculties

Comrades and friends:

Let me preface my talk tonight by reading to you from a man who has distinguished himself, in these parts, for his ability to show the lighter side of life: a side of life people like myself would do well to resort to from time to time to remain sane in the glare of the harsh realities of our every day endeavors. The man is Ben Trovato. I found myself returning to this piece this morning when it was announced that Koeberg is now fully operational:

          The Director

Koeberg Nuclear Power Station

                                                                                                                        11 June 2002

Dear Sir

I read in the paper that you have put a 26 year old women in charge of safety.  Dear God what were you thinking! This is a nuclear reactor we are talking about, not an arts and craft shop.  I am all for equal rights, but the women I know are quite happy to be put in charge of little more than the kitchen.

Women do not even know how to change a plug.  Not because they are incompetent, but because their brains are wired differently to ours.  Your 26 year old is no different.  Sooner or later she is going get confused.  Too many flashing lights gauges and bleeping noises will automatically shut down vital parts of her brain.  She only has to press the wrong button and it’s goodbye Cape Town.

What if this woman finds her husband with another man?  Do you have any idea that these people are capable of in their quest for revenge?  Most of them would not hesitate to destroy an entire city to teach that two-timing bastard the lesson of his life.

I may have to consider moving my family to somewhere safer, like Durban.  At least the Zulus would never put a woman in charge of a nuclear reactor.

I anxiously await your word of reassurance.

Yours truly

Ben Travato

So when at the beginning of the year Cape Town was repeatedly blacked out and I, probably like some of you, tore my hair out because in my normal absent-mindedness had not saved the documents I was working on, and unlike most of you, the computers we use are not clever enough to recover lost efforts. As I was going through this I angst I knew one man whose sunny satisfaction would have led him to say “I told you so, it is that young woman, she must have been blinded by the flashing lights. I told you so . . .” as Minister Alec Erwin was looking for a lose bolt to explain away his problems.

But I do not remember that he ever said so, probably, I would like to believe, because we now live in an environment where such jokes are no longer politico savvy. For the truth of the matter is that it has insidiously crept into the consciousness of most that actually when women are given positions of responsibility, they do it with such sensitivity and efficiency that there is left no doubt in anybody’s mind that they were the right people for the job. I would like to think too that there is left no doubt in the minds of many that the future is women.

They are the future because in their hands the world is a better place. In their hands we could put paid to the insanity of war that ravages and is the most absurd and wanton waste of resources and lives.

I am very glad that I am of this country, because the strides we have made as women make us a beacon of hope for many.

We are where we are today because fifty years ago women of this country took the brave step to protest against their oppression. Some of us will not be able to celebrate the centenary of this historic march but I am certain by then we will have a country so tempered by the sensibility of women that it will doubtless be the most ideal place to be in, it will be, to borrow from Allister Sparks, quite simply, ‘another country’. But, before my fancy takes me to another country, I must return to the present, to the present where we still have problems  . . .  

In addressing a gathering of women in commemoration and celebration of the freedom that women enjoy today, we would need to thank the University for putting this function together. It is fitting that we should have such an occasion at the University of Cape Town, which distinguished itself by the investment it has made in the development of the country and its intellectual capacity. It is renowned for its opposition to apartheid and is acknowledged as one of the first Universities to open its gates for women when women education was not prioritized. So I think it is apt and fitting that we should congregate here within these premises to celebrate women’s success and to reflect on our place in this space that has been created for us.   

As we celebrate one of the critical moments in the struggle for a liberated South Africa it would be improper to mark the occasion without a due reflection on the significance of the legacy that the occasion bestows on us, women in particular. This is because when looked at against all other events that defined the Twentieth Century I am certain that we would all agree that for women their march of 1956 represented a triumph of major proportions against not only an evil ideology but also against a system that was designed to enforce a particular form of discriminated labour. Apartheid of course provided the pass system, which predates it, with political legitimacy. It was entrenched as a system that was ostensibly to keep African women away from prostitution and brewing beer illegally. Passes became an integral of part of a battery of racially based legislation that for decades would restrict work for African women in white households. This had the result, which was intended, that African women would not enjoy residential rights to urban areas, even in comparison to their husbands. In the case of the death of their husbands they would lose not only their residential permits but their jobs too.

As the basic tenet of apartheid was legitimizing separateness, the passes became that instrument that defined Africans as essentially rural. Where women who for any society are a measure of permanence of that society, African women in the South African context were an infestation that had to be contained because their very presence in urban areas raised the spectre of a permanent African society a feature too dire to contemplate. Therefore the application of the pass laws against African women was particularly vicious.

No other instrument of apartheid is known to have had such far-reaching consequences on the lives of Africans and women in particular as did the pass system.

However, despite the significance of the anti-pass march and its implications for our society, we sadly are faced with the situation where there is a great paucity of research covering this period. What exists now is made up mostly of biographies as women speak for themselves: a necessary first step, no doubt, in efforts to rewrite and reinterpret history but still lagging far behind developments that it set in motion.

Nevertheless, from what is available it would be possible to reconstruct some parts of this history. It emerges then that the origins of the Women’s March in 1956 are in the Conference convened in April 1953 in Johannesburg. At this Conference, women from the ANC Women's League, the Congress of Democrats, the South African Indian Congress and the Coloured People's Organisation formed the Federation of South African Women. The Congress of the People, in 1955, provided them the platform to further mobilize and popularize their demands for a kind of state that was responsive to issues of their basic needs that included the building of health facilities and housing and more importantly the recognition of equality with men as well the right to vote. But it was not until they marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 that their strength in mobilization; their determination to fight collectively and through solidarity, was demonstrated.

The Women’s March in 1956 therefore represents the legacy of undeniably a very influential force for change whose impact in our individual and collectives lives continues to find significant meaning.  We celebrate their bravery. We celebrate their achievement in ensuring our place in the annals of history and for providing us with a profound legacy and a liberating act to follow.

For those who did not live under the banner of apartheid and also, for some who did and have grown weary, it is easy to ignore and look down on the immense significance of the women’s struggle in our history. South Africa is commended for its most progressive constitution and legislation with regard to its provision of women’s rights – all these we have because of these women. Today  South Africa boast one of the highest percentage of women Cabinet members (43%) and in parliament (36%). Recently South Africa endorsed the 50/50 women in governance by 2015 campaign. This will all come to nought if it is not actively supported and buttressed by the work of other women.   

  We have to continue to work towards the mobilization of women to be active in those areas that are critical for women’s advancement. Women have, throughout history, used whatever platform they had to address the issue of their subjugation and to lobby for their emancipation. They very effectively have used music; literature; arts and other medium to address social and gender inequality.

 This brings us to this vital point; where do we here at universities fit into all of this?  We have at our disposal a critical tool for the development of policy and research.

 Women have to find their place in research and be able to use this for the advancement of all women. Research has a vital role to play in building this country to its greatest capacity, it is a powerful tool in the hands of women and it is exciting to see that women have taken and embraced this challenge and have indeed used research in a manner that challenges for better service delivery and responsiveness to women’s issues and we have to acknowledge the positive impact that such challenges have had in our society.  

Unfortunately, however, in this arena, the staff composition of many Research Institutions is still not reflective of our demographic realities. The legacy of the past is still present since the domination of men in the industry continues. It is important to understand the impact that this dominance has had in our country and the world in general. It is the history of male dominance in academia and research that has pushed the agenda in society to the detriment of the cause and issues affecting women. It is in this way that the public sphere was defined. The impact of the damage is glaringly still in evidence today. Investments in countries for research are channeled through frontiers that largely still exclude women.

We need, as women of the new millennium to continue to fight for the full emancipation of women through our work research, for women to have an impact which can in turn be plough back into society. What this means is that female researchers have the obligation to push for the realization of women’s empowerment with the powerful tool that they have. For democracy should be enjoyed by all and the fruits of it bared to all.

Women are affected by gender-blind or neutral approaches especially to issues where they are very directly the most disadvantaged group. This would explain why pro-poor programmes have remained ineffectual. For us to develop effective policies we need to be buttressed by gender sensitive research. A gender approach that allows for a focus on the particular needs of men and women would need to be considered and the obstacles preventing women from full development removed.

As women researchers there is need to ensure that we participate in programmes that document the achievement of women and investigate the use of these in bench marking various programmes targeting women.  We need to mobilize for effective use of available resources to ensure that the needs of women, as defined by women themselves, are attended to.

It is in this regard that we find it disturbing that even amongst female researchers the demographics still do not reflect the true realities of the country. Amongst female researchers black women (especially African women) remain marginal. Research conducted by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) estimates that about 82 percent of female researchers are white as compared to about 10 percent of African researchers. This is disconcerting.

It is also unsettling to note in a recent study conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), South Africa has only 1.6 full time researchers per 1000 total employment while countries such as Australia, South Korea and Spain have between 5.2 – 11.0 researchers per 1000 of total employment. Only 38.2% of our researchers are female and a large percentage (49.5%) of them are from non-governmental organisation, 40.8% from Higher Education, 38.9% from government (including science councils) and 26.8 from business. In 2004, the Department of Science and Technology published that women were overrepresented in Health (47%) and Social Sciences research, but underrepresented In Natural Sciences and Engineering.

The rapid ageing of the productive workforce in the public sector, the yawning gender gap that favours men among science and technology graduates and the poor representation of our racial demographics are a matter of concern.  

While it might seem that I have painted a bleak picture of our current realities, it is encouraging to observe that the National Research Foundation (NRF) rating for young and upcoming researchers is improving and is currently at about 25%. This shows a tremendous growth although not as significant as we would like. The main gender challenge relates to recruiting women at the level of scientific research and leadership. These young women should be encouraged to move away from gender stereotyping that has driven many women away from research especially in the sciences. 

I say all of this in the context that this has been regarded as the decade of women, a decade where women shine and women prosper. South Africa has taken progressive steps towards women empowerment and the president himself has shown the great confidence that he has in women as people who make a contribution to how South Africa is shaped. I think women need to take that as a sign that each time a ceiling is reached that can be broken through to becomes a ladder, upon which we should walk as a matter of course and prescriptive right.  

Government has chanelled funding for women in Science, Engineering and Technology research through institutions such as the National Research Foundation, Medical Research Council, Water Research commission and others – in order to provide opportunities to women to be involved in the economic and scientific research and I would like to encourage women to utilise these.  It is important that we should all work aggressively together to establish a growing pool of highly skilled young researchers. Let us work together to redefine the research agenda in the fields where women are still vulnerable, to address issues of concern for our country. How can we be onlookers in an era of HIV and Aids, competition for shelter, energy shortages and others? Where are we as women in the technological advancements? How can we establish sustainable research networks that will provide opportunities that are critical to the emerging cohort of women?    

In conclusion, I would like to say that in a world of despair women can be a feature of light, using research to refocus government’s investments on issues beneficial to all humanity. The full measure of democracy is when all members of society irrespective of race; gender; sexuality or religion can actualize their full potential without restraint. If there is still a woman in South African who is restrained then we cannot be a democratic state.  All of us who are here have the duty to ensure that women do not remain invisible in the development process, to ensure that women’ needs are addressed using proper channels and to ensure that full measure of democracy is experienced by all to ensure that the women’s struggle was not in vain. 

Let the women of today have a purpose and let them live out that purpose, fulfilling it beyond the borders of their imagination. Let us be like women of the 50s and actualise our resources to the greatest we can. Let South Africa achieve development that is informed by research which is representative of women’s voices.

What has happened in our country is no less than a revolution, silently it has crept up on us the sum of the parts no less momentous than any in recent history. An incomplete revolution nonetheless until women have received full equality. Those of us therefore who are beneficiaries of this environment have particular responsibility to deepen and entrench these freedoms as we have them now. Not only do we have to do it for the future generations we have to do it for ourselves. For it is important to remember at all times that no revolution is irreversible.  Just as there is no guarantee that the trajectory of any revolution will continue to be defined by those with the most interest in it.

We have laid the foundation. Thus, we now have codified rights in the Constitution. Within government institutions the necessary policy framework has been created and our objectives have been integrated into the international agenda. It is now time to cross thresholds particularly now when the international environment impacts so much more on our domestic situation.

Consolidate and deepen the gains of freedom.  We bequeath to you what we have done we ask that you cherish it as we have cherished that which was passed on to us.  And, to quote the President, “tread softly on our dreams”.

I thank you.