Former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, now the head of UN Women, has urged governments to reconsider the way they do things to eradicate poverty.
Mlambo-Nguka, who was delivering the 9th Thabo Mbeki Africa Day Lecture at the Muckleneuk Campus of Unisa on Friday night, said “the fight for gender equality and empowerment is universal”. Mlambo-Nguka gave a moving presentation, rewarded with huge intermittent applause. The theme of her Lecture was “Gender Equality & Women Development for Africa’s Renewal”, which she did justice to.
She said the topic correctly suggested that we reconsider the way we do things to eradicate poverty. “Across the world, gender inequality affects women, even those in those societies that are more gender tolerant and more affluent.
“They are not insulated from domestic violence, wage inequality or from being overlooked when a candidate for head of state is being sought after.
“When it is time to ordain the bishop - she could be singing her lungs out everyday, but, come time for leadership, she does not feature.
“It doesn’t matter where you live; this struggle is yours,” she said.
In her opening, she paid tribute to the late ANC stalwart Albertina Sisulu, whose centenary is celebrated this year with that of late President Nelson Mandela.
She spoke of Sisulu in glowing terms “as a life that was lived with purpose”.
She added of Sisulu: “Her dignified leadership continues to inspire us and her advocacy for women’s emancipation will never be forgotten”.
She gave honourable mentions to Amina Mohamed, her boss at the UN and also “young Africans who inspire us.
Among these was Caster Semenya. She received roaring applause saying, word for word: “I want to give a shout-out to Caster Semenya.”
She also made specific reference to Jaha Mapenzi Dukureh, a Gambian survivor of female genital mutilation, who is a candidate for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize and Kenyan Natalia Wambui, aged 10, “who has already authored three books”.
The meat of her lecture hit home, especially among the women in the audience who felt she spoke to the core of their being and struggles.
Women in harsher conditions bear the brunt, Mlambo-Ngcuka said, especially the women in societies where crimes against women are tolerated or the women located in conflict areas and in contact with armed fighters.
“Violence against women is a problem throughout the world.”
Her points hit home when she said: “A man can be a serial abuser in Hollywood for decades and can get away with it.”
Those women suffering at the hands of such a man - Harvey Weinstein she did not mention by name - risk losing an income when they complain, or risk poverty and “the stigma that comes with it”.
“That is why the struggle is universal. There is no country that has achieved gender equality. So it is all hands on deck.”
She lamented the under-representation of women in decision-making bodies from parliament to media houses. Whether you are in Sweden, DRC, India or South Africa we are all still fighting to win on this front, Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
She hastened to highlight “the over-representation of women in low-paying jobs” which she said was a problem in all countries, from Iceland to Yemen. She saluted the Prime Minister of Iceland who has made the fight for equal pay her own.
“Wage inequality is a problem in all countries.”
Mlambo-Ngcuka said the burden of unpaid care is a terrain of all women who suffer what the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has termed the Motherhood Penalty.
“In the fulness of a woman’s life, she’d have lost 40% of her income due to motherhood-related activities. In South Africa we must congratulate ourselves because we don’t look bad.”
She said many women will allow themselves even to be overlooked at work where they feel there is too much to do at home. “Women will sacrifice promotion, not because they are not competent.”
“In some countries, when she has to take time off to get a child, she loses part of her remuneration. But when men have to take time off, it is called a fatherhood reward.
You reward the man, you punish the woman. What kind of world is this?”
“Whenever there’s a battle about maintenance, it is not the men who stand in queues.
The paradigm has to change.”
“Everywhere in the world, women are affected by discriminating stereotypes. Women are suffering even in countries with good laws; we are a victim of that in South Africa. We have good laws but we don’t benefit from these good laws.”
She added that “there are 150 countries in the world still that have a law or two or bylaw that blatantly discriminate against women”.
Her gripe - and she lays the blame for this at the door of her generation of feminists, is that “all over the world, not enough men have been mobilised to become gender activists, change-makers who can build from within and dismantle patriarchy”.
“That would be effective if men were to do that.”
In her generation, she says: “We did not take men as partners in the battle for gender equality.”
Before Mlambo-Ngcuka took to the podium, Unisa vice-chancellor and principal Professor Mandla Makhanya had said no one was better suited than Mlambo-Ngcuka.
“The head of UN Women... is a veteran of women’s struggles for gender justice and empowerment and therefore the perfect choice when it comes to dealing with the issue of gender equity and women development.”
Makhanya said: “with the Africanisation narrative, there has been little or no mention of women, who have always been the backbone of African economies”.
“We’ve defaulted on the faultlines, with little, if any, focus on gender dynamics... The current stories and horrible statistics of gender violence and continued economic marginalisation of women offers stark evidence that patriarchy is still alive and violently kicking.”