Women’s league boosts mansplaining capacity at ANC policy conference

They may be opposed to having a man as the country’s next president, but the ANC Women’s League had no qualms with roping in six men to bolster their delegation to the governing party’s policy conference because women “get too emotional” during debates.

Delegates attending the conference in Nasrec were shocked to notice a group of men in the women’s league delegation.

However, league president Bathabile Dlamini justified the inclusion of males, saying it was aimed at bolstering “capacity in commissions”.

She said the six were actually resource staff. “Sometimes we lose debates because we become emotional so now we want experts to argue,” Dlamini told the Sunday Times.

According to the league’s constitution, only females can be members. The league was formed to fight against patriarchy and advance women’s development. At the time of its formation, women were not allowed to be members of the ANC.

The league is currently campaigning for former AU chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to succeed President Jacob Zuma, arguing that women had been sidelined for too long in the party.

But yesterday delegates at the plenary were confused about why males sat in seats allocated to the women’s league.

“It’s funny that males are there. We said maybe we are not seeing something,” a delegate teased.

Dlamini said they had a fight with the ANC about insufficient allocation of support staff and in the end they decided to include the six because they needed expert help.

When asked if these six men were the only experts they could find, Dlamini said there were a lot of female thought-leaders in their delegation. “It is not about gender . . . it is about resources,” she said.

Sometimes we lose debates because we become emotional, so we want experts BATHABILE DLAMINI ANC Women’s League president