Gender South Africa, " walking a few paces behind": case against affirmative action

Well, you would think that all those impressive statistics(44%,40%...) would mean something- you know, like, better gender relations. The explanation for the contrary scenario lies in the fact that freebies don't always have the desired effect of galvanizing action. Ladies in South Africa have not sweated for those seats, so to speak. There is no way you can convince a daughter that hard work pays, while freebies abound.

That's why I have a problem with the 2/3 rule debate in Kenya. It will just put a "ceiling" on the much ladies can achieve while they can achieve much more than a third!


Affirmative action doesn't,exactly, necessarily improve the women conditions. I would be okay with the push for 50-50 rule for nominative positions but NOT elective positions. In elective positions,voters (men and women) have equal rights coupled with equal numbers! If I can vote for a man then a lady can vote for a woman, and I don't think it would hurt her!

check out "Ladies- change -the- world movement" for the way forward.

It's time for ladies to stop fighting! You can achieve all a man can

Michelle Bachmann, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush: who's your daughter's role model?

All those first ladies are in the limelight courtesy of their husbands. Only Michelle Bachmann is known for what she is and what she has achieved, and not necessarily because her husband happens to be a bigwig somewhere. In my books, those first ladies would qualify as "affirmative action popular figures"!

If any of them first ladies is your daughter's Role models ,then you are, in effect, telling her that the only way for her to be somebody,say ,a bigwig is to get married to a man destined to be a public figure!

It's not rocket-science to figure out who my daughter's role model would be...