A Question of Interest: Women as Opposition

Abstract

1Among the issues with which opposition in South Africa is struggling, Southall lists questions of how best to oppose, whether to work singly or in combination, in informal alliance or formal coalition and whether to proceed in a manner that may be construed as ‘constructive’ or ‘robust’. Many of these questions can usefully be asked from the standpoint of women. Do women constitute a kind of opposition that is seeking to articulate its interests and influence the policy agenda? If so, what form should the articulation of their interests take? Should women form their own political party or do women constitute an ‘interest group’? Will broad alliances of women across party political lines be successful and to what end? And the particular focus of the present inquiry, if women have interests, how ‘constructive’ or ‘robust’ should their participation in defence of those interests be? For social liberals, women’s enfranchisement effectively resolved the issue of ‘women and political representation’. In contrast, many feminists have argued that women have a distinct identity and set of interests and have suggested that female representatives should represent women rather than opinions in general. This view goes hand-in-hand with support for the formation of women’s or feminist parties, ministries for women’s affairs, quotas, a change in the political culture and the working conditions of politics so that it will attract more women, consciousness-raising collectives and women’s groups outside the official decision-making bodies. 2 The idea that women may have interests which are in conflict with men in their party is a view specifically contested by many in the African National Congress (ANC). In interviews conducted in 1999 by ANC deputy secretary-general, Thenjiwe Mtintso, she found that most of the ANC women and men she