Manhood and masculinity 25

GENDER TRANSFORMATION SYMPOSIUM REPORT

3 The role of universities in the 25-year review on women’s emancipation and gender equality 3

This is the summary of the presentation by Professor Vivienne Taylor, a Commissioner in the National Planning Commission (NPC) and the Chair of the Presidential Review Committee on Women’s Emancipation and Gender Equality (WEGE)

There is an explosion in the daily violence that is being experienced by women, girls and members of the lGBTQi communities. The fact that such violence is more pervasive in the poorest townships, periurban and informal areas of south africa indicates that it is the most economically and socially deprived whose lives are at risk. The reality for women and girls and the majority of people who live under intolerable conditions of deprivation is that the political democratic dispensation introduced in 1994 has not yet resulted in significant improvements in their daily lives. The structural impacts of apartheid and colonialism are still evident today in the way south african society remains divided along gender, race, class and spatial lines. economic inequality, racism, patriarchy and other forms of cultural domination and intolerance continue to inhibit efforts to promote the implementation of a shared vision of social transformation that should be implemented collectively as the basis for a new national compact.

in this regard, four key goals emerge: improving the lives of the poor majority; maintaining social stability; building a nation that is inclusive and non-discriminatory; and safeguarding the interests of women and the transformation of gender relations as a central interest of the state. However, the pursuit of these goals may by undermined by the persistence of patriarchy, which, in its institutional forms and socio-cultural processes, has the ability to adapt and take on new forms which can appear to be part of a change agenda. The adaptive features of patriarchy can intersect with hierarchies of power within institutions to co-opt and contain the transformation agenda, particularly as this relates to women whose voices may be muffled.

in addressing the oppression experienced by women, it is important to acknowledge the kind and extent of the discrimination that they continue to face. The 2017 Poverty Trends report produced by statistics south africa (statssa) indicated that black african females; children under the age of 17; people from rural areas; and those with no education are disproportionately affected by poverty. More women than men live in poverty and women-headed households are almost

3 This section draws on a presentation made by Professor Vivienne Taylor, Commissioner, National Planning

Commission and Chair: Presidential review Committee on women’s emancipation and Gender equality, and comments made by Nonkosi Tyolwana and others at the Gender Transformation symposium held by CPuT on 2627 august 2019.