On the advent of Kamala Harris being elected as the first woman deputy president in the US, perhaps this a moment to reflect on how women leaders have assumed positions of power in SA, one of the world’s youngest democracies.
We know the big names: Albertina Sisulu, Ruth First, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Thuli Madonsela, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Helen Suzman, Mampele Ramphele and many others. And that only covers politics.
But are we ready as a predominantly patriarchal society, where gender-based violence makes daily headlines, to hand over the keys to the highest office to a woman?
Though we are a young democracy, strong women leaders have lived among us for decades.
The ANC granted women membership in 1944, just more than 30 years after the Women’s league was created. Charlotte Maxeke, SA’s first black woman graduate, led the Bantu Women’s league that saw the light after the SA Native National Congress — which later became the ANC — in Bloemfontein in 1912. She was the only woman who attended that congress.
The league’s main goal was to force the government to abandon the use of passes for black, coloured and Indian women required to carry documentation of formal employment. According to research published by Rebekah Grisim in 2013, the league was inspired by the British Suffrage Movement, which fought for women’s voting rights between 1918 and 1928. The Bantu Women’s league later became part of what we know today as the ANC Women’s League, established in 1918.
Maxeke led talks on the pass laws for women to National Party prime minister Louis Botha’s office. The next year, after receiving no feedback, Maxeke organised a march to the Bloemfontein city council. Hundreds of women took part and burnt their pass books as part of a broader civil disobedience campaign.
The system of pass laws was finally repealed in 1986. But protesting against pass laws was not Maxeke’s only mission. She addressed the Women’s Reform Club in Pretoria about voting rights for women, she was part of protest action against low pay and she testified before a government commission about African education — “a first for any African of any gender”, according to the African Feminist Forum.
Maxeke was a pioneer in many ways. As at least half of the US electorate celebrates Harris’s victory, perhaps now is a good time to do some stocktaking of our own. Many believe Harris could become the first women president of the US.
If Maxeke, who obtained her BSc degree from the US’s Wilberforce University in 1901, got a glimpse of SA women’s presidential prospects today, what would she think?
Or, if we stepped away from politics for a moment, what would she say of our culture of violence against women? How would she propose we tackle that?
The closest we have come to a woman president was Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, defeated by Cyril Ramaphosa in the last race for the ANC presidential elections. But her rise to office would have been less than ideal. Many believe she would have been a puppet for state capture-accused Jacob Zuma. Taking a safe guess, that would not have been part of Maxeke’s vision.
We now have two women premiers in our nine provinces — the Free State’s Sefora “Sisi” Ntombela and Mpumalanga’s Refilwe Mtshweni. According to the Centre for Human Rights, in 2019 there was at least 40% women’s representation among the ANC candidates in all provinces. The opposition DA’s gender representation during the 2019 general elections was worse than the ruling party’s. The DA did have a woman leader for eight years, but that ended in tears. The EFF had a 44%-women representation, but only one of its five top candidates was a woman. The ANC (and EFF) supported a voluntary quota for women’s participation.
SA has the structures in place. Our Electoral Act requires every registered political party and candidate to respect the rights of women. Our constitution guarantees gender equality. In our current National Assembly, 45%, or 177, members are women, out of 400 seats, an almost 5% improvement from the previous parliament. SA ranks number three in Africa and 10th in the world in terms of gender-diverse parliaments.
President Thabo Mbeki appointed Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as our first women deputy president in 2005.
But we are yet to see a woman climb to the top office.
Perhaps it is because we have not seen enough women leaders fighting from the ground. Leading in the fight against gender violence; making a difference; pushing to change a mindset.
Maxeke has been quoted as saying: “This work is not for yourselves. Kill that spirit of the self and do not live above your people, but live with them. If you can rise, bring someone with you.”
She was born in 1871. Almost 149 years later, in SA, we are still waiting, not only for a woman president to rise but also for woman leaders all across the country to rise up against those who harm them.
It can’t just be a matter of time.
