Unisa online - Capable women of Africa

African women, from all walks of life, dressed in vibrant traditional attire, gathered at Unisa’s Little Theatre on International Women’s Day in celebration of their continent’s women. International Women’s Day is celebrated globally to mark the progress made in emancipating women from all forms of segregation, domination and marginalisation. In Africa, the status of women is compounded by cultural and other political factors.

To commemorate the day, Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute(TMALI), in partnership with the Centre for Africa Renaissance Studies (CARS), hosted a seminar under the United Nations theme for the day "Equal rights, equal opportunities and progress for all". A panel of experts addressed what needs to be done to unleash African women’s potential to contribute towards the political, social and economic development of the continent, and discussed how they can become change agents for the continent’s renewal.

All the speakers shared the view that African women should understand who they are as a people and amplify their voices. Dr Maureen Tong, Head of TMALI, said the Institute subscribes to the philosophy that Africans should become masters of their own destiny. "We have the capacity to be our own liberators in an environment of democratic ethos and the acceptance of human equality as a fundamental principle. Africa is capable of providing African solutions to African problems. African women have an important role to play in this regard."

Keynote speaker, Prof Catherine Odora Hoppers, holder of the DST/NRF South African Research Chair in Development Education at Unisa, described the day as special. "It is special to all of us for different reasons, as activists, as sons, as daughters…this day is for all of us."

She said in the past three decades, women have come to occupy a very important part of the stage in development discourse. She also spoke of GDP measures, which in the past excluded the contributions and realities of women. Some of the truths exposed by the use of these indicators are that no society treats its women as well as its men and that gender inequality does not depend on income level. "China, for example, is ten GDI ranks above Saudi Arabia although its per capita income is only a fifth of Saudi Arabia. The issue is therefore not the income as traditionally posited, but rather, the focus of political commitment."

She said that although significant steps have been achieved over the last three decades, there is still a long way to go. "The GDI values in all countries have improved since 1970 and no single country has slipped back even though great disparities exist as to the pace of such progress."

However, she said both the GDI and GEM can capture only what is measurable; they do not, therefore, cover other important dimensions of gender inequality such as participation in community life, micro level and interpersonal democracy, consumption of resources within the family, dignity and personal security. "Women’s work is still very much undervalued in economic terms especially due to the restricted definition of economic activity, but also due to the problem of the meaning attached to the very notion of value."

Other speakers included Independent Consultant, Nomboniso Gasa; Chair of the SA Post Office; Vuyo Mahlathi, Director: Policy and Advocacy; Liepollo Pheko from Trade Collective; Founder of Ashira Legal Consultants, Hazel Gumede-Shelton; and Head of Unisa's English Department, Unisa Women’s Forum, Deputy Chair, PanSALB, Prof Zodwa Motsa.

Prof Zodwa said that African women should know who they are and know their space - then they will be able to face the challenges that beset them. "If we know ourselves as African women we will be able to mitigate our space."

Mahlathi said that in order for African women to become change agents, they should start by being unhappy with where they are in all spheres and doing something about it. Pheko said in the broad context, African women are paying the cost of failed states.

Esteemed guests included former first lady Mrs Zanele Mbeki, former minister, Ms Thoko Didiza, and Vice-Principal: Strategy, Planning & Partnerships, Prof Narend Baijnath.