Ofeibea Quist-Arcton
31 July 2002
(Page 2 of 2)
So are African leaders the problem in that case?
No, African society. And leaders are a product of that society. So we've got to start changing at every level. It's not just at the top. Sometimes if we focus only at the top, they have one or two women and they think that's the end of the problem. It isn't. In South Africa we have had this incredible number of women [at leadership level] in eight years. But, at a day-to-day level, we have not succeeded as much as we need to in changing the lives of women at the grassroots. We have provided water and so on, but we still have a long way to go.
Are you hopeful? Are you hopeful that things will really change for women in this much-touted African Union that is part of the continent's renaissance and that is meant to change Africa?
Yes, it will change, because we have already articulated it. If you look, there is already change. There was supposed to be a topic on the agenda on gender mainstreaming. We didn't reach that, we have deferred that for the next time, but the papers will be there. A number of heads of state were supposed to speak on that. Go and interview them. Ask them, "what did you say, what were you going to say?" The papers, we agreed, are meant to be released. Women should comment on that. If it says gender mainstreaming, let's look at it and say what is this gender mainstreaming?
So, I think it's got to be done at all levels. Yes it will change. You see, I am a parliamentary Speaker, but there are a large numbers of women deputy speakers on the continent now, partly because I was high profile. Because South Africa's democracy was a media event, suddenly people said 'Oh, women can be speakers!' Before that, nobody thought of it and I think this was a demonstration of it. Our government has been very good. 38 percent of our executive are women that's ministers and deputy ministers. There's no quota. But it is an awareness that women are capable, you see.
Frene Ginwala, you say we are products of our society, but when you look at another developing continent, Asia, for example, in some ways many people might say that Asian women are perhaps in a worse position than African women. Yet Asia has spawned women leaders from Indira Gandhi onward. Latin America perhaps not, but if you look at other parts of Asia, the Philippines and Indonesia…
But that's what I'm saying. If you just aim at a head of state, you don't change society. That is important. I don't want to underplay it. But it is important how the individuals there are using their function. If you just strut around and say 'I've made it,' then it's no good.
But it's also an alibi. They say 'look, we've got a woman head of state, we've got a woman prime minister'. It's important, but it is not enough. And it's the 'enough' I'm talking about; that at every level of society we've got to move and change the conditions in which women have to live.
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