SA’s first woman president: what the job needs

She will have to fight patriarchy to impose development, and not be a party stooge, writes Hlengiwe Hlophe

THERE has been a debate about whether South Africa’s maturing democracy is ready for a woman president. Factions in the ANC are suggesting a female candidate for the position of president.

The time is therefore ripe to ask what South Africa would expect, specifically, of a woman president.

What should be her qualities and her core agenda to address South Africa’s development complexities and problems? How should she shape and move South Africa’s ideological underpinnings in terms of politics and development?

Having a woman president at this point will make logical and progressive sense, as it will be taking the gender equity agenda forward. However, we must be careful and ask: what is prompting ANC factions to push for it now? Women must not be used by the infighting in the ANC for selfish and narrow agendas.

South Africa has chosen a gender equality path known as gender mainstreaming, rejecting feminism as an approach.

Gender mainstreaming emphasises the inclusion of women in public spaces, parliament, the economy, et cetera. This approach is limited as it fails to discipline, interrupt or constrain patriarchy. The mainstreaming approach relies on numbers (quotas), which do not guarantee true broad economic transformation.

Women progress in such a system if they are connected and loyal, benefiting the governing male elite capitalist monopoly.

They do not change the structure. They are essentially uncritically captured by the capitalist system, the enemy of gender transformation.

So what should be the minimum qualities of South Africa’s first woman leader, given the current state of affairs?

She will have to have solid personal attributes. She will have to be a woman who is bold, open to be challenged, can challenge and can be engaged. She will have to be able to command respect, lead and be open to persuasion while resisting being captured and being used as a proxy.

The leader will have to be someone committed to learning from the experiences of other woman presidents so that she avoids the mistakes of some woman leaders.

She will have to be someone who is leading from a place of confidence because she is worthy of leadership, as opposed to a leadership position granted to her as charity or through the kindness of men or her party, capitalists or lobbyists, leaving her owing favours and allegiance to these benefactors.

A woman leader will have to be propoor and committed to handling poverty differently, in order to improve the situation of the poor, who are mostly women and girls.

Given current political arrangements, however, the woman president will be appointed by the ruling party and as such will be expected to be accountable to the party rather than to the nation or to women.

A sound woman leader will have to break with this tradition and not serve narrow party interests but rather aim to address South Africa’s development problems for all.

Addressing gender inequality must be at the core of her leadership, which will have to be unapologetically inspired by a women’s agenda.

The woman leader will have to be able to link her political party’s mandate to that of women. She will have to be open to be accountable specifically to women, and create spaces and opportunities for such accountability in a meaningful manner.

As a start, the woman leader will have to acknowledge that the current economic arrangement (state-facilitated capitalism; the developmental state) is not addressing poverty, inequality, gender inequality or social exclusions. If anything, it aggravates these challenges.

The leader will have to be inspired and bold, to begin to move South Africa’s economic policy to an area where poverty reduction and addressing inequality are at the core — a socialist-inspired agenda.

In such an arrangement, the state will be able to own and control core assets of the economy, the land, mines, natural wealth and core industries so that the ownership, benefits and wealth of the country are shared by the nation — including women — as opposed to them being exploited and shared by a minority of the population.

The woman president will also need to redress and bridge the gap between men and women. The National Treasury will have to draw up gender-segregated and sensitive national budgeting and allocation of resources, and taxation will have to be gender sensitive.

Education planning, resourcing and provision will have to be the core function of the state, with the numbers of women who access education increased. Beyond numbers, the quality and nature of education should also be planned and monitored through a gender lens.

The woman president will have to be committed to democracy. Women’s participation will have to be specifically encouraged, beyond mere numbers, at all levels of the democratic and governance levels, in a substantive manner.

Municipalities will have to demonstrate how their programmes address development and inequality concerns beyond just plugging women numbers. The agenda will have to be more about substantive equality.

The environment is ready for a woman leader to benefit all South Africans and decolonise South Africa in economic and social development — to lead, but only if she is not used in a power play by the male elite in the ruling party.

Hlophe is the EFF’s deputy secretary-general

❛ She will have to be someone who is leading from a place of confidence