ANC positions on gender, 1994–2004

Abstract

In this article I focus on two central tensions around gender. In the first place there exists a tension between the broad, sometimes vague commitments to women's liberation that are rooted in the ANC's history as a national liberation movement and the specific policy directions that it adopts as a party in government. In the former strand there is an emphasis on radical structural change and an overturn of the systemic legacies of apartheid. In the latter, the party's focus on the creation of a black middle class and its failure thus far to deal with the economic marginalization of women make addressing structural inequalities difficult. In order to unpack the first tension, I trace the conflicting meanings of national liberation within the party. Attempts to accommodate this tension are reflected in the way gender as an issue becomes a concern to be addressed through developmentalism, in such a way that the radical or substantive content, which was a feature of the liberation struggle, is lost. In the process, gender concerns have been delinked from feminist concerns. The transfer of gender to development leads us into the second tension in ANC thinking around gender. The ANC's projection of itself as a modernizing force is reflected in gender concerns which locate gender in development, with consequences for what is possible in terms of substantive gender change. This position, though, is often contradicted by the presence within the party of socially conservative and traditional discourses of gender, for whom gender equality is often little more than a rhetorical commitment. In the article I examine why this is so. Cutting across both of these tensions and finding space as a result of them are the party's achievements with respect to gender equality. Both historically and in comparison with other developing countries, the ANC has done more to champion issues of gender equality than any other former national liberation movement. I argue that this track record could have been better. In the final section of this article I examine the history of gender activism in the party over the last 11 years, in order to examine the constraints to further gains.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to my fellow participants in the substantiating gender rights project for the previous two years' stimulating and challenging discussion. This article would not have been possible without their input – both as sources and colleagues. In addition, I wish to thank my research assistant, Idah Makukule for her ongoing efforts, as well as Henriette Gunkel for help on the final draft.

Notes

1. Debate around the nature and the achievements of the NDR is ubiquitous in internal party media, see for instance Umrabulo 10, 12, 14 and elsewhere in the discussion documents for the 1997 Conference.

2. In this article I use the statements of individuals (quite often President Mbeki), realizing that these positions, while reflecting what are very senior representations of the ANC's position, may not reflect the position of all within the ANC, particularly ordinary members.

3. Moser describes the anti-poverty approach as ‘focusing mainly on [women's] productive role on the basis that poverty alleviation and the promotion of balanced economic growth requires the increased productivity of women in low-income households. Underlying this approach is the assumption that the origins of women's poverty and inequality with men are attributable to their lack of access to private ownership of land and capital, and to sexual discrimination in the labour market. Consequently, it aims to increase the employment and income-generating options of low-income women through better access to productive resources’ (1989, p. 1812).

4. In South Africa, though, except for those ANC circles directly involved in the conference, even this outcome did not receive much attention and the state's ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) at the end of the year received little party attention.

5. There is one mention of rape in the published 1997 conference documents, and none in 1994.

6. Using parliamentary, ANC and news media documents and speeches, the trajectory of interest I outline is relatively easy to follow, as is the fact that the government's move into the debate was largely reactive.

7. I have truncated Mbeki's comments. He also spoke on HIV/AIDS and the efficacy of antiretrovirals.

8. The 2000 report includes a detailed discussion of the nature and validity of statistics available in 1997 and 1998.

9. There is considerable divergence between some media reportage and the work of activists like Charlene Smith (2004, 2005), who critique the government's position on sexual violence without resorting to the demonization of black male sexuality.

10. In discussions around this article I was challenged about my use of the term ‘gender activist’ instead of ‘feminist’. I use the former more often because several of the people I spoke with found ‘feminist’ an uncomfortable label. ‘Gender activist’ for me conveys a sense of those, principally women, who have engaged the party in debates around gender equality.

11. For a discussion of the difficulties women members of parliament face, see the commentary by women parliamentarians in Hassim (1999, pp. 19–30 and 2002) and the interviews conducted with parliamentarians which appeared in Mayibuye.

12. For instance, the Umrabulo series on building the women's movement. Note that these pieces appear relatively infrequently, compared to coverage of other issues.

13. I counted them. Detailed references refer to real discussion about gender as opposed to the inclusion of ‘non-sexist’ in statements about movement aims. No one I spoke with about this could remember if this issue was raised in conference discussion.

14. I spoke with several ANC members across a number of government departments who all supported this point. Most of these comments were garnered in conversations about whether people would be willing to be interviewed, or would have the time for interviews. Since most were unable to help me, I do not feel at liberty to identify them. The views I represent are therefore not the views of all movement activists, especially ordinary party members.

15. This relationship can be seen in the reaction of party supporters to the publication of Cherryl Walker's Women and Resistance in Southern Africa. Shireen Hassim (2005), Women's Organizations and Democracy in South Africa: Contesting Democracy (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press), pp. 45–7. Gertrude Shope also described it to me in my interview with her.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Natasha Erlank

Natasha Erlank is a Senior Lecturer within Historical Studies at the University of Johannesburg. Her research interests include gender, religion, masculinity and nationalism. Her research interests include gender, religion, masculinity and nationalism. Her previous work has included a discussion of the gendered nature of early ANC discourse, as well as work on gender and Christianity in the nineteenth century. Currently she is working on the role of religion, tradition and gender in the making of modern black South African identities at the start of the twentieth century.