Why is it that women are treated as “quotas” - a number to be obtained to achieve gender diversity? A target to be obtained to prove representivity, for example, in the workplace, in Parliament or the judiciary.
Comments such as, “it is time for South Africa to have a woman president”, offends me as a woman. Not because a woman can’t do the job and do it very well but because it is presented as a token or a target.
To become our country’s president, we need the most suitable candidate. If it happens to be a woman, it will be great!
I have always felt deeply offended to be considered for a position because I am a woman. Have you ever heard that being said of a man? No, I am sure you haven’t.
I expect to be chosen because I am the best candidate for the position.
My journey through life has made me strong and determined to succeed. It has moulded me as a person with talents gifted to me by my Creator.
Admittedly many things affecting women have changed over the years but very few of these changes have been in natural recognition of the contribution women can make.
Change came about as a result of collective pressure on society from women. The feminist movement, also known as the women’s liberation movement, for example, refers to a series of political campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women’s suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence.
Although popularised in the late 1960s, this movement already started in the 19th century with the goal to secure the right to vote. We might not agree with the way in which women’s liberation was portrayed in the media back then but their motives were true and from the heart.
Allow me to share some of my own experiences in this regard with you. I was denied the opportunity to follow my chosen career choice.
Women became teachers, nurses and social workers, not engineers. I began my career with a tertiary degree on a salary scale lower than a man with a matric. As a married woman I could not become a member of a pension fund. If you became pregnant you had to take vacation leave for a period of four weeks prior and eight weeks after the birth of the baby.
If you did not have enough accumulated vacation leave, the balance was deemed unpaid leave. I could not apply for a credit card without my husband’s authorisation.
Tragically, because of the political history of South Africa and the resultant social circumstance still existing today, many women are still treated with disrespect on a daily basis. They are made to feel inferior and are treated as objects to be misused, abused and discarded.
A woman is a person who has the right to be who she wants to be, to be judged by her skills and the value she can bring to her family, her career, to society and to the future of this country - a person who deserves the respect of others and the right to be treated as an equal. Women were created to be a man’s partner, not his subject.
I am a woman and proud of the person I am and what I have become. I am a wife and a mother, a professional and technocrat and I am serving my community with integrity. I am not and have never been a number to make up a quota.
* Fourie is MMC for Finance in the City of Tshwane.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.