GOOD speech by Brett Herron,
GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
08 March 2022
Note to editor: This is a speech delivered by GOOD Secretary-General and Member of Parliament, Brett Herron, today in Parliament on the International Women’s Day Debate.
Madam Speaker,
Due to our history of slavery, colonialism and apartheid, South Africans have well-developed understandings of prejudice and discrimination.
Not just applied to race, but also to language, location, culture, sexual orientation – we pretty much embraced the full gambit of hatred.
Our Constitution theoretically unstitches all these divisions. We’ve made some progress. For example, South Africans must be very careful about racist utterances or behaviour, these days.
But besides outlawing racial discrimination, as a society we seem to have de-prioritised dealing with the other prejudices that continue to define us as a nation. We speak about them a lot. But what are we actually doing?
“We, the women of South Africa, wives and mothers, working women and housewives… declare our aim of striving for the removal of all laws, regulations, conventions and customs that discriminate against us as women, and that deprive us in any way of our inherent right to the advantages, responsibilities and opportunities that society offers to any one section of the population.”
That statement has as much currency today as when the Women’s Charter was adopted nearly seventy years ago.
The face of poverty in our country remains unquestioningly that of a black woman.
The feminisation of poverty is perpetuated through a labour market that StatsSA describes as “heavily racialised and gender-biased”.
Men are more likely to be employed, and women in the workplace are likely to earn 30% less than men.
The incidence of family violence and gender-based violence is ever on the rise.
We have failed to create workplaces that are free of sexual and gender-based violence, harassment and discrimination.
Masculine solidarity, and a culture of patriarchy, enables powerful men to get away with transactional sex.
We commemorate Women’s Day and make forceful speeches when a particularly horrendous incident of gender-based violence hits the news.
But our families, communities and schools continue to generate new generations of haters, raised to believe in the subservience of women.
Those parties that claim no longer to “see” race and gender, and have adopted policy positions arguing that race and gender are no longer relevant factors to consider in building a just society, must open their eyes.
The campaign for gender equality is not achievable for as long as the solidarity of tolerance only gets broken every now and again.
Real leaders, of all genders, must stand up every time there’s a transgression. Not only when standing up is politically unavoidable.
Madam Speaker, sustainable development cannot be achieved without gender equality.
If we are honest with ourselves, whatever we have done, and no matter how many times we debate gender issues, we are making no progress.
Maybe we should stop the symbolism of “international days”, the hot-air of speeches, and do real things: legislate against earnings inequality and recognising femicide as a hate-crime would be a good start.
Media enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Samkelo Mgobozi, GOOD: Media Manager
Cell: 0792315977 (whatsapp)/0829684021 (calls)
Email: samm@forgood.org.za