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The announcement that Dr Mamphela Ramphele will be the DA’s presidential
candidate for the coming elections caused varied reactions.
While I have no desire to delve into the inevitable political discussion this move has brought about, I do think it is a good exercise to imagine South Africa with a female president.
I’ve asked the Women24 team to answer the following questions that we’ve been discussing since yesterday.
- Will a female president make a difference when it comes to gender violence and equality?
- Will SA have a female president within the next 20 years?
- Are our voters still too sexist to vote for a female president?
- Does the gender of the president matter at all?
Even though our team is interracial, intercultural, interpolitical and even interlingual we all agreed that it would depend on the strength of the person and her commitment to change and betterment of the lives of South Africans, and not necessarily on her gender.
Tammy:
“As long as the president has an invested interest in the equality of all people, and will focus on doing something about it – be it gender inequality or racial marginalisation, then I don’t think it would matter.
Cath from Food24 was a bit cheekier in her response on whether a female leader would make a real difference:
“A female president will be able to address the issues of women and child abuse that is so rife in SA. While our current president has unsafe sex and a horde of wives I think it will make a difference to have a woman in charge. Besides, I don’t think a woman would even CONSIDER living in that abomination called Nkandla.”
Even if we don’t think the actual gender makes a difference as long as our leader is working for the country, most of us would love to see a woman in power. If only for the positive message it would send to our citizens and the world.
Like Laura said:
“A female president makes an up-front statement about pushing forward into a new humanistic society rather than holding onto the male-dominated society of the past. The chosen president of a country represents that country. If a country has chosen a female representative, it says a great deal about that country’s views regarding gender equality and, by association, other inequalities often faced in society.”
Kuye thinks it’s very possible for SA to have a female president in the next two decades:
“I feel like younger generations are more open-minded to the idea of having a great leader, irrespective of gender. And with African female leaders such as Joyce Banda doing such a great job, it inspires South Africans to think differently about gender and politics.”
While Jana thinks it all depends on the majority party:
“If she’s a ANC candidate, she’s got it in the bag. I firmly believe that no matter who the ANC puts forward as their candidate, they continue winning elections for a long while to come.”
Concerning whether our voters are too sexist to vote for a woman Nolwazi reckons:
“I think that some voters are sexist. However I think that for Nkosazana Dlamini to be AU head in quite a patriarchal continent shows that there has been some progress. However the voting process of our national elections is different as anyone over 18 can vote whereas the AU voting process is different.”
Either way, I think South Africa is in for an interesting political ride. We can only hope that this will translate into tangible positive change for all our futures.
To read everyone’s thoughts (it’s worth it) go here.
While I have no desire to delve into the inevitable political discussion this move has brought about, I do think it is a good exercise to imagine South Africa with a female president.
I’ve asked the Women24 team to answer the following questions that we’ve been discussing since yesterday.
- Will a female president make a difference when it comes to gender violence and equality?
- Will SA have a female president within the next 20 years?
- Are our voters still too sexist to vote for a female president?
- Does the gender of the president matter at all?
Even though our team is interracial, intercultural, interpolitical and even interlingual we all agreed that it would depend on the strength of the person and her commitment to change and betterment of the lives of South Africans, and not necessarily on her gender.
Tammy:
“As long as the president has an invested interest in the equality of all people, and will focus on doing something about it – be it gender inequality or racial marginalisation, then I don’t think it would matter.
Cath from Food24 was a bit cheekier in her response on whether a female leader would make a real difference:
“A female president will be able to address the issues of women and child abuse that is so rife in SA. While our current president has unsafe sex and a horde of wives I think it will make a difference to have a woman in charge. Besides, I don’t think a woman would even CONSIDER living in that abomination called Nkandla.”
Even if we don’t think the actual gender makes a difference as long as our leader is working for the country, most of us would love to see a woman in power. If only for the positive message it would send to our citizens and the world.
Like Laura said:
“A female president makes an up-front statement about pushing forward into a new humanistic society rather than holding onto the male-dominated society of the past. The chosen president of a country represents that country. If a country has chosen a female representative, it says a great deal about that country’s views regarding gender equality and, by association, other inequalities often faced in society.”
Kuye thinks it’s very possible for SA to have a female president in the next two decades:
“I feel like younger generations are more open-minded to the idea of having a great leader, irrespective of gender. And with African female leaders such as Joyce Banda doing such a great job, it inspires South Africans to think differently about gender and politics.”
While Jana thinks it all depends on the majority party:
“If she’s a ANC candidate, she’s got it in the bag. I firmly believe that no matter who the ANC puts forward as their candidate, they continue winning elections for a long while to come.”
Concerning whether our voters are too sexist to vote for a woman Nolwazi reckons:
“I think that some voters are sexist. However I think that for Nkosazana Dlamini to be AU head in quite a patriarchal continent shows that there has been some progress. However the voting process of our national elections is different as anyone over 18 can vote whereas the AU voting process is different.”
Either way, I think South Africa is in for an interesting political ride. We can only hope that this will translate into tangible positive change for all our futures.
To read everyone’s thoughts (it’s worth it) go here.
