Johannesburg -
Women should make up half of the representatives in the Gauteng legislature, ANC Women's League provincial chair Patricia Chueu said on Sunday.
Chueu said that overall the league was “happy with the representation of women” in government and would like to see a 50 percent quota of women in the province's legislature.
She said that the party's election lists were not discussed at the province's general council meeting which took place in Pretoria on Sunday.
Chueu told Sapa that the league was not threatened by the fact that other opposition parties had female leaders like the DA's Helen Zille and AgangSA's Mamphela Ramphele.
“Because of our organisation that fought for the rights of women, they are now able to lead their parties,” she said.
“We are encouraging women to speak out and assemble themselves.”
Chueu said that the league's provincial executive had raised a number of issues at Sunday's Gauteng general council meeting.
These included ensuring women got housing with decent sanitation and power supplies and that women in professions like teaching, nursing and policework would receive housing subsidies.
She also said funding for female farmers should continue.
Chueu said the league was happy more girls were attending schools but that her organisation would also be active in going to schools and educating girls and boys to try to prevent teenage pregnancies.
She also urged women to talk to their partners about having circumcisions in order to reduce HIV infection rates.
“These woman must open up in terms of communication to encourage them [their male partners] to be circumcised.
The ANC is due to hold its list conference on Monday ahead of the 2014 general elections.
At the conference, the party will decide on candidates for Parliament and provincial legislatures. - Sapa