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Africa News afrol News
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Africa News afrol News
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It indicates that political parties do not yet see the women's vote as an important constituency, but more importantly, it highlights that the women's movement is failing in its lobbying exercises to make politicians see the women's vote as an important bloc to win over. Womensnet interviewed five of the largest political parties to get their gender perspectives and then used a report-card method to assess them. The results: a "B-minus", a "C" and three "Fs". Top of the gender class was the ruling African National Congress (ANC). It scored for fielding the highest number of female candidates, who make up an overall 43 percent of the party's candidate lists. The party won, because gender advancement is an explicit policy in the manifesto, and also because it has promised free basic water and electricity to poor areas. Since most poor households are headed by single women, this new policy is read as an important gender development. But the ANC did not get an "A" largely because its manifesto does not recognise the gender dimension of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The pandemic feeds on unequal gender relations. Three examples tell the story. HIV transmission is most often from male to female. Older men who believe that this will "cure" them of AIDS rape many young girls. It is often older women who are left to look after AIDS orphans. - The ANC statements show no recognition of the profound gender discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS. The provision of condoms is simply not enough to address the vulnerability of women and children, said Womensnet editor, Sally Shackleton, in her assessment. For Shackleton, it is important that gender advancement is specifically mentioned in political party manifestos. No party, other than the ANC, did so, although the opposition Democratic Alliance (score C) is judged favourably because it has the highest number of female ward candidates (the local election system is a mix of ward and proportional party representation). - This can be seen as a non-verbal commitment to gender equality, says Shackleton. The DA "shines", according to Womensnet, because it is strongest on an HIV/AIDS local government policy. The party's promised to give free anti-retroviral drugs to women who are raped and to those who are pregnant in order to reduce the risk of HIV transmission. Similarly, Shackleton awards them praise for providing for community-based childcare. "This recognises the need for an integrated approach to HIV/AIDS instead of casting out AIDS orphans." In addition the party also gets kudos for its community safety plans and the fact that it lists rape as a priority concern. Its promised support for small business is important because this could benefit female owned enterprises. The DA falls down on its local government ethos, which is free market based and suggests that every community must spend its own funds. This is a problem in a vastly unequal society like South Africa. The ANC, for example, has realised that its promise of free water and electricity to the poor will necessarily demand a measure of cross-subsidisation from wealthy to poor areas. The three other parties evaluated by Womensnet were the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the Azanian Peoples Organisation (Azapo) and the United Democratic Movement (UDM). All scored a dismal "F", indicating that they have failed. None of them have specific gender advancement policies in place and at least two of them don't take the issue seriously because they enjoy rural support where traditional leaders are important parts of their power-base. Shackleton scolds the UDM and the IFP for not making clear what their "respect" for traditional leaders means in a country where activists record numerous instances of bad gender practice in traditional authority areas. The UDM uses the term "he" to describe how its mayoral candidates (the most important at local government level) will work. "I suppose we might be accused of nit-picking, but if a party can't even get the language right when it costs nothing and doesn't require any real action, what can we expect from them as our representatives?" Womensnet asked.. Azapo, a small black consciousness party, which enjoyed its hey-day in the 1970s, was acknowledged because it promotes the participation of ordinary people in drawing up Council budgets and in making policy. But it failed because when Womensnet asked the party about their gender policy, the reply was that "We don't do that because we are Africans." Shackleton says that not one of the parties can sit on its gender laurels. None of them would have passed had they been assessed in terms of the two international instruments for best gender practice: the Beijing Platform for Action and the United Nations' Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In fact, the worst performers would have slipped right off the gender radar because "they would be outside the A to F range," says Shackleton. by Farah Khan, IPS
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