For Immediate Release: South Africa Soars To Third Place In Global Women In Parliament Ranking

South Africa has soared from 17^th to 3^rd place in the global ranking of women in parliament following the 22 April elections that saw an 11% increase in women's representation in the national assembly from 34% to 45%.  Only Rwanda (56%) and Sweden (47%) are now ahead of South Africa.

This is the largest increase since the first democratic election in 1994 in which women's representation jumped from 2.7 percent to 27%. At provincial level, women's representation has increased from 30% to 43%, with one province (Limpopo) having 53% women.  

The results put the country firmly on course to achieve the Southern African Development Community (SADC) target of 50% women in political decision-making by 2015. In an update to its 15 April report that forecast this outcome to the letter, Gender Links attributes the increase in numbers to the African National Congress (ANC's) and Congress of the People (COPE's) 50/50 election lists as well as improvements in women's standing in other opposition parties   

Gender Links congratulates the ANC and COPE for being the only parties in SADC to date to have heeded the targets set by the region. We hope that this will set a precedent for other parties and other elections, notably those soon to take place in Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique.

The fact that two opposition parties (the Democratic Alliance and Independent Democrats) have women leaders; that the ANC has a woman spokesperson; that the Inkatha Freedom Party fielded a woman candidate in its stronghold Kwa Zulu Natal province and that one woman (the leader of Women First) mounted a party of her own all contributed to challenging the predominantly male face of politics in the elections.  

Having two women - Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chair Brigalia Bam and CEO Pansy Tlakula - running an exemplary election further advanced the standing of women in this election.  

Women comprise 55% of registered voters.  This debunks the myth that women are not interested in politics.   The peaceful conduct of the poll - despite this being the most hotly contested election since 1994 - enabled women and men to vote freely across the country. However, numerous challenges lie ahead:

• Of the 26 parties that registered to vote, only four (the DA, Women First, ID and Keep it Straight and Simple or KISS) had women leaders.
• The DA, COPE and other parties did not field many women at the top of the national and provincial lists. Indeed even the ANC national fielded two men as number one and two on the national list.
• In the ANC leadership struggle, the possibility of a woman alternative barely featured; not even from the party's own Women's League.
• Although he was acquitted of rape charges, ANC leader Jacob Zuma expressed highly worrisome views on women's rights in his rape trial in which he said that according to his culture a woman dressed in a kanga could not be left in that state. He is a polygamist; a practise that, although not outlawed, is self evidently patriarchal, unfair and in all likelihood unconstitutional.
• In its campaign to defend Zuma on all fronts, including the corruption charges that have been dropped by the National Prosecuting Authority due to alleged political interference, but are still untested in court, the ANC has found itself defending practises that are not progressive and sit uncomfortably with many of its women veterans.
• Sexist slurs such as the comment made by ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema that women who are raped do not ask for taxi money in the morning have diminished the ANC's standing on women's rights.
• Predictions for the new cabinet that Jacob Zuma will announce after his inauguration on 9 May suggest that women will constitute only 11 out of 30 or 36% of the new cabinet compared to 42% under former president Thabo Mbeki. It seems doubtful whether South Africa will continue to have a woman deputy president (at best this position is likely to be shared with a man).  
• Based on who comes first on party provincial lists, it appears that the number of women premiers will drop from nine in 2004 to two in 2009: Helen Zille in the Western Cape, and Thandi Dibakoane, the first candidate on the ANC's Mpumalanga list.
• According to media monitoring conducted by Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) in the lead up to and during the elections, women comprised a mere 22% of news sources, despite constituting 55% of all voters. This shows that women in our society continue to be denied voice in public affairs.  

Gender Links calls on President-elect Jacob Zuma to show his commitment to the principles of gender equality enshrined in the Constitution by:

• Applying the 50/50 principle to his new cabinet and the appointment of premiers in the eight provinces in which the ANC is in the majority.  
• Repudiating those who mocked and vilified his rape accuser outside the Johannesburg High Court.
• Creating a conducive climate for his rape accuser, who lives in exile as a result of the threats on her life, to reclaim her citizenship by returning home.
• Encouraging debates that promote women's rights, including the debate that started during this election on whether or not polygamy has a place in a constitutional state with gender equality as a cornerstone of its democracy.
• Establishing and supporting strong, independent and fearless structures for promoting gender equality, including addressing the current dysfunctionality of the Commission on Gender Equality.
• Ensuring that the government of South Africa is at the forefront of the struggle to ensure that all 28 targets set by the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development are met. These include halving gender violence by 2015; ensuring women's equal participation in all areas of economic life; recognising and remunerating the work of care givers.

(For more information contact Colleen Lowe Morna on 082 651 6995 or Kubi Rama on 082 378 8239; for the full report go to http://www.genderlinks.org.za/attachment_view.php?pa_id=1046 or go to http://www.genderlinks.org.za/