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Putting Feminism on the Agenda Table of Contents 1. Introduction – Susan Bazilli 2. Formalized Inequality – Elizabeth Sheehy 3. Violence Against Women in South Africa: Where to from Here? - Anu Pillay 4. Women and HIV/AIDS – Sisonke Msimang 5. Customary Law – Sibongile Ndashe 6. The King's Rule is Considered Supreme: The Impact of Religion and Culture on Gender Equality – Gertrude Fester 7. Women, Land and Power: The Impact of the Communal Land Rights Act – Aninka Claassens and Sizane Ngubane 8. Socio Economic Rights – Shireen Hassim 9. Looking at Globalization and Trade through South Africa Women's Eyes – Mohau Pheko 10. The Relevance of Rights for Systemic Change for Women – Lee Lakeman 11. Women's Constitutional Activism in Canada and South Africa – Marilou McPhedran 1 Putting Feminism on the Agenda Introduction Susan Bazilli (Ed.) November 2008 This introduction provides a brief summary of the events leading up to the colloquium Putting Feminism on the Agenda, held in November 2006 at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, as well as a short description of the papers in this edited e-publication. Background November 2006 marked the 15th anniversary of the conference and subsequent publication of Putting Women on the Agenda. This was the first regional conference held to galvinize the struggle for women’s rights in the possibility of a new constitutional dispensation in South Africa. Together with others that followed, it was a significant event in the development of the South African women’s movement as a place for engaging the new democracy: network building and consolidation, formulation of policy and advocacy strategies, legislative drafting, consultation on the creation of the national gender machinery; and providing support for women who moved from activism to the state. That conference was attended by over 450 academics, activists, lawyers, judges, law professors, ANC members returning from exile, representatives from NGOs and participants from the Southern African region. Many went on to help shape the Constitution and the laws that would create the new democratic South Africa and many have become significant players in the new South Africa. As democracy has become entrenched, the women’s movement has engaged the state on a range of issues, often prioritising formal legal gains over building new leaders and capacity and strenghtening links with community organisations. As the debate has shifted from opposition and protest politics to one of implementation and delivery, the national women’s movement has became disparate and less visible, and the activists, legal advocates and scholars have necessarily shifted their focus to proactive policy and advocacy activities. Women have worked in a sector specific and segmented manner within the areas of their expertise and analysis such as land reform, gender violence, reproductive rights, HIV/AIDS, constutional litigation, customary law, health, etc. However, both the focus on formal gains in the state and the declining collaboration between and among sectors has weakened the movement’s ability to advocate for women’s rights in a more coherent way. Thus what was historically a national women’s movement using opposition to the apartheid regime as a cohesive focus, became national and local women’s movements, struggling with how to work with the newly elected democratic government, comprised of many of the feminists who came from the movement itself. In addition, new gaps emarged. For example, the continuing focus on feminist policy analysis and advocacy by women outside the state became seen in many instances as an attack on the new fragile State structures rather than contributing valuable analysis and critique on how to entrench women’s equality rights. In reverse, the feminists who went into government now found themselves confronted by the criticism of their sisters 1 and former comrades because of the slow and hampered nature of the reconstruction and redevelopment of the inherited apartheid state. In effect, this was democracy at its fledgling inception; messy and contradictory and idealistic and frustrating – but revolutionary. This herstory raises a number of critical questions for feminists about the nature of contemporary political institutions, the possibilities for radical change through the state (including the courts), and the kinds of processes within the women's movement that need to accompany state-focused political and legal strategies. South Africa is far from being representative of the continent as a whole, as well as other emerging democracies or established ones, but the dilemmas faced within the context of democratization finds resonance globally. The particular combination of political will, institutional development and linkages between activists in the state and in civil society suggested a different trajectory to the usual forms of engagement between the women's movement and the state.1 The South African situation thus raises a set of interesting and important questions for women in SA, and globally: • What is the relationship of the South African women’s’ movements to the state, and to other social movements? • How can feminists continue to use constitutional rights to advance the position of women in South Africa, especially in a way that meets their fundamental needs, such as bodily integrity, economic inequality, poverty, protection in relation to HIV/AIDS etc? • How can we build a feminist rights agenda that speaks to the needs of the most vulnerable women? • How can we ensure that a new generation of feminist activists builds on these struggles? • How can coalition building be re-vitalized and resourced? • What is instructive for South African women is the experience of Canada and other regions of the world, and vice versa? • How can the learning from civil society actors globally contribute to more effective advocacy and entrenchment of women’s rights within the state? This project, initially called Putting Women on the Agenda 2 (PWOTA2), and renamed by the organizers as PFOTA, was seen by the organizing committee members and by the lead organizations, CALS and IWRP, to be aimed at providing the space, time and reflection needed to further develop an explicity feminist (rights) agenda for the future. It is recognized and understood that “feminism” in an African context and within the South African disparate communities is often a controversial term. How to include feminist analysis and critique in large national gatherings is neither productive nor useful, as the debate becomes one of semantics and terminology rather than one of pragmatic policy development or political and legal strategies. Rather, reflection on the past twelve years during PFOTA was to form the basis for critical thinking to develop rigorous policy proposals, political and legal strategies and “think pieces” that were to be taken forward by activists at, and after, PFOTA. 1 Shireen Hassim, Terms of Engagement: South African Challenges, for the Social Movements Project, Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal. 2004. See further, Shireen Hassim, Women’s Organizations and Democracy in South Africa: Contesting Authority. UKZN Press, 2006. 2 The conceptualization of PFOTA has been a partnership between CALS at Wits University in South Africa, and the IWRP at the University of Victoria in Canada. Canadian feminist legal scholars have been working in partnership with South African feminist legal scholars since the 1980’s. Much exchange and learning has taken place between them, particularly regarding Canadian constitutional jurisprudence on the Charter of Rights, and South African jurisprudence especially on socioeconomic rights. It is a fundamental belief that the research, expertise, and learning is “South/North” and “North/South”. It is also a fundamental commitment of the partnership that academics and legal scholars work in equal partnership with civil society feminist activists who have been working on the challenges of making women’s constitutional rights become “lived rights” in both countries. The colloquium that was held was strategic, focused, analytical, facilitated and small in number but representaive of regional geography, key sectors, race, age, and organisations. Of the 100 participants invited, we had 70 in attendance. In conceptualising this conference, it was agreed that it would focus especially on constitutional rights activism in critical areas of women’s lives. These were identified as • Gender based violence • Custom and culture • Religion • HIV and AIDS • Sexual and reproductive rights • Land Rights • Socioeconomic policy • Globalization and trade Objectives The objectives of PFOTA were: • To enable feminist advocates, lawyers, activists and academics to come together to identify and debate issues on how to make women’s constitutional rights become real “lived rights” • To learn from comparative experiences in Canada and the SADC region • To enhance capacity and understanding of constitutional rights activism, including amongst young women and girls • To identify practical legal and advocacy strategies for action in critical areas • To further develop a feminist rights agenda and forward looking strategies • To disseminate the contents of discussion and ‘plan of action’ through ongoing websites and listservs • To improve local networking between organisations and with community based women and women’s organisations, as well as with government 3 • To develop intergenerational networks and relationships • To seek ways of establishing

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