Women in South Africa
Do the workers have a country?
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* South Africa Roseline Nyman reviews questions about the future of the "women's movement" in South Africa. Why do we need a movement? What form should it take? Who should lead it? This is an important time to reflect on these questions, because trade unionists are considering the character of their own movement, and women feature prominently in discussions about the way forward.
From a class perspective, the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has played the central role in building a working women's movement. Within the union movement, workers have consistently prioritised issues such as maternity and paternity benefits, child care, sexual harassment and wage discrimination.
COSATU's work outside the union movement has been more sporadic. Examples of the federation's external contributions include participation in the Beijing process, a submission endorsing the right to an abortion, and work within the Women's National Coalition (WNC).
Trade unionists have not had a central role in the women's movement. Hence this article must raise difficult problems regarding the political and class character of contemporary gender struggles.
What needs must be met by a women's movement?
Women's socio-economic and political status under South Africa's first democratic goverment will continue to be the primary basis upon which a women's movement can build. The ANC leadership's role in goverment is the key determinant in improving International
Viewpoint
1996
women's socio-economic status. It is not too early to ask, to what extent has the ANC implemented policies that have supported women in their daily struggles?
The ANC's campaign platform - the Restructuring and Development Programme (RDP) - provided policy directives regarding jobs, land, housing, water, electricity, telecommunications, transport, a clean and healthy environment, nutrition, health care and social welfare as the programme's highest priorities. These basic needs are also the most pressing issues facing the working-class, regardless of gender.
Since black working-class women experience the biggest share of poverty, socio-economic issues assume a greater importance than for middle-class women, especially white women. For black working class women, both socio-economic issues and political issues such as violence, abortion and representivity, are critical.
Poverty rates in South Africa differ dramatically along racial and gender lines. While 65% of Africans are poor, only 0,7% of whites are poor (SALDRU, 1995). And 57% of ultra-poor households are femaleheaded, while 70% of female-headed households are impoverished. Women's share of the formal adult labour force is only 37%, and women's proportion of shared household income is a low 30%. Half of African women are unemployed compared with only 9% of white women and 34% of African men (Nyman and Naudascher, 1996).
To understand why these disappointing statistics are so durable, we can consider 487 short-term public works projects analysed by Valoodia (1996), which were meant to assure women at least 40% of all jobs. The RDP (Section 2.3) insisted that the "public works programme must maximise the involvement of women and youth in the poorest rural households... This must have significant socio-economic benefits, particularly with respect to production which meets women's basic needs (such as child-care facilities)" Such projects are important for generating incomes rapidly and providing needed facilities, but are no solution to the need for much more sustainable job creation.
In practice, however, women gained access to just 23% of the total 908,091 person-days in public works projects (according to a study by CASE), in part because the Public Works Department subcontracted large amounts of the funds to institutions such as the Independent Development Trust, which apparently did not prioritise women. Moreover, facilities of particular importance to women are still not being built. Government has failed to implement a national comprehensive child care programme although only 9% of children of the age group 0-6 are in child care facilities. One third of these children are white while only 6% are African. Whites have also benefited more than Africans from subsidies from the Department of Education for child care.
Worse still, the Lund Commission recommended that child-maintenance grants should be drastically reduced since the government does not have the money to pay the grant to all racial groupings. This will exacerbate women's position. The increasing trend towards female-headed households means that many women have to bear the sole costs and responsibility of child care. Government's lack of support for women in the form of child care facilities and child maintenance grants has the impact of eroding the existing living standards of black working-class women.
Insofar as women remain economically deprived and insofar as there has not been a translation from formal Constitutional equality into socio-economic and political equity, the need for a women's movement remains. And insofar as we live in a capitalist society dominated by the stranglehold of patriarchy at all levels, it is only a socialist society that can generate social relations that will eradicate women's oppression.
Because working-class women want more than equality with their class brothers and middle class sisters. They want a society where all vestiges of patriarchy and male chauvinism are eradicated. They want a society where housekeeping functions are absorbed by institutions of a socialist society. The wholesale transformation of domestic work can only come about when the state provides resources for communal institutions such as maternity homes, nurseries, kindergartens, communal dining halls, communal laundries and mending societies. Only a socialist society can guarantee the liberation of the human spirit and ensure the fulles development of the potential of everyone males and females.
What kind of women's movement is needed?
As women's liberation is tied to socialism, women's future is tied up with the
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26 International Viewpoint by José Iriarte "Bikila"
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S0, SHOUIT IT FROM THE _FREE AT LAST!! ROOFTOPS.. struggles of the working class. Only the leadership of working-class men and women can pave the road to a socialist society. Although there may be resistance from many male comrades to eradicating patriarchy, working-class women should strive to bring their male counterparts on-side. Men and women workers face the same bosses and state. However, because of all-pervasive patriarchy and the position of women in the reproductive sphere, women's needs are greater than those of men. The women's movement must thus always ensure that issues like child care facilities, abortion, and wage equity are part of the struggle of the whole working class.
If we do not have a women's movement that prioritises the eradication of women's oppression then the women's question could be put on the "back burner" of the working-class agenda. [...]
At present in South Africa, the political climate remains conducive to women fighting for their rights. The Interim Constitution's equality and affirmative action clauses provide the legal framework. Government policy papers on workplace equality and the Elimination of Pregnancy Bill are all victories for women. Government structures that advance women include the Office for the Status of Women, the Commission for Gender Equality and the Human Rights Commission.
A women's movement must build on such advances. In particular, government's more recent argument that it does not have money for women's basic needs must be vigorously countered. The National Women's Budget Initiative represents a campaign that working-class women can take up to ensure that government re-prioritises the budget to meet women's needs.
In this context, what role are middle-class women playing? Middle-class women, especially white middle-class women, prioritise gender equality in the political sphere within a capitalist framework at the expense of socio-economic issues and socialism. A working-class-led women's movement should form alliances with middle-class organisations around specific Issues.
For example, the Termination of Pregnancy Bill provided an opportunity for a COSATU-led campaign inside and outside the federation. Women's right to an abortion concerns black working-class women,
WE'RE especially, as they have suffered the most from deaths and injuries resulting from back street abortions. However, the "pro-choice" movement was dominated by parliament's health committee and the Reproductive Rights Alliance (of which COSATU is a member), which overemphasised the role of white middle-class women. COSATU women's involvement was limited to attending meetings and making a submission to parliament. COSATU gender structures failed to mobilise members around women's right to an abortion. In fact, COSATU's Central Executive Committee failed to discuss the issue despite the fact that it had been publicised extensively in the media for some time. Even though the passage of the Bill was ensured because of the ANC parliamentary majority, COSATU missed an opportunity to mobilise and lead all women under the banner of the working class.
Given this vacuum, there are possibilities for working-class women to play a stronger role. COSATU's Third National Women's Conference earlier this year provided three discussion strategies for building the women' movement: the national women's movement should be lead by the working class; the WNC should be transformed into a body that has a working-class bias; and the national women's movement should mobilise around core issues. As the discussion document concluded, "we cannot rely on the constitutional, executive and legislative processes alone. The struggle for women's emancipation... Women's oppression is resolved through consistent and ongoing struggle by women and men, within the family, and within all structures and institutions of society."
The three scenarios that emerged from the COSATU conference are 1) the sisterhood scenario, entailing a national organisation for all women, based on the perception that women's needs are relatively homogenous; 2) restructuring the women's movement, entailing different organisations and groups amongst women to strengthen the diverse voices of women; and 3) the rise of an organic women's movement through struggle, in which campaign-oriented activities organise women. The Communist Party (SACP) Gender Department supports the perspective of building the women's movement organically through struggle. Its rejection of the "sisterhood scenario on the basis that class, race and gender divisions are interwoven is tantamount to rejecting the
ET WNC as constituted at present. The position that women should be organised around issues that affect them directly, means that a women's movement should be built around the burning issues of the day.
As the trade union movement constitutes the most organised section of the working class, it is hence imperative for trade-union women to spearhead the women's movement. It is evident that organisationally, COSATU must become much stronger to take leadership and to ensure black working. class women's concerns are prioritised. lo this end, COSATU gender structures must play a twofold role. Firstly, they must wage tireless struggles within the federation to put gender issues on negotiating and campaign timetables. Secondly, they must initiate and lead organisations outside of the union movement to fight for women's liberation. These roles are inter-linked. As women's structures are strengthened within COSATU, so will COSATU women be equipped to lead the struggle outside. Conversely, COSATU women's campaigning outside will inject vibrancy into the federation.
Nevertheless, COSATU women have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to engage in and to lead struggles in the federation. During the 1980's, the CWIU successfully engaged in a series of strikes against wage discrimination. During the same period, SACCAWU workers led militant strikes demanding a living wage. In the early 1990's and in this year, SACTWU workers struck for higher wages. COSATU's National Women's Sub-Committee played a leading role in ensuring that the CEC adopted the Sexual Harassment Code. Gender resolutions adopted by COSATU called for the employment of a National Gender Co-ordinator and the employment of a gender researcher at NALEDI.
However, there are other gender resolutions that have not been implemented. An important resolution concerns the under-representation of women in the federation's leadership. To cite developments in three major unions since 1994, SACCAWU remains at 33% women in national leadership; SACTWU has dropped from 33% to 13%; and SADTU has risen from 20% to 27%. In 13 COSATU affiliates, there are no female leaders at national level. Partly as a result, COSATU women have consistently battled to put gender issues on the NEDLAC negotiations table. At present women are rep-
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