When women are in charge, there's less corruption, more transparency and resources are better used, says Nelson Mandela.
He made a surprise appearance at the the opening ceremony of the Global Summit of Women 2000 on Friday with his wife, the former Mozambican first lady, Graca Machel, who delivered the keynote address.
"It has been proven that where the income is given to a woman of the family, the nutritional value to the family increases eight times more than when the money is given to the man," Mandela told the 400 women from 40 countries taking part in the three-day conference.
"We must ask the question, why is it that it is men who are on the forefront of society today?" he said, adding that putting women on the forefront would promote justice, peace and stability.
Machel said it was important that men not be excluded from the struggle to empower women and improve life for all.
"We have to go beyond what we can call women's struggle and make it become a societal struggle - in which they, the men, also recognise that it's in their interest," she said.
"We want women to be more and more successful but we want women to humanise political life and to humanise the struggle for power.
"We don't want women to be there to imitate what men have been doing as oppressors," said Machel. - Sapa-AP