Women are making a mark in media
Christi van der Westhuizen’s Body Language column (“Media’s gender apartheid“, October 28), detailing the abysmal representation of women at board and senior management level in the media industry, gave plenty of food for thought.
But it lacked the counterargument of the many opportunities available to women in the media and, indeed, how far we have come in trying to achieve gender parity. It helps to note the good news, too, to avoid a no-hope feeling.
Van der Westhuizen is correct in her assertions that women in media companies fill paltry percentages on boards and in senior management. There is no excuse as to why this is so — there are many very talented and highly skilled women with the ability to lead large South African media corporations.
The need to further our gender transformation efforts remains urgent. And we do fall behind global gender in media trends.
In the United States, for instance, Forbes magazine indicates that a surprising number of women are leading the media into the digital age.
Although there are significantly more media moguls who are men, the media are not just a crotchety old man’s world in the US — women are making a huge impact too. Very rich and very influential women in the media include Christiane Amanpour, Oprah Winfrey, Anna Wintour, Arianna Huffington and Tina Brown.
Although South Africa may not have its Oprah, the domination of “hypermasculinity” in the media sphere, as stated by Van der Westhuizen, is not entirely accurate. The statistics may point to that but the term precludes the achievements made by women in the media.
Van der Westhuizen fails to acknowledge the nuances and the complexity of the debate around gender parity in the media world.
South Africa’s most powerful media women may not have the developed news consuming markets found in the US, but they have been at the forefront of welcoming and initiating change in the media industry.
Wag the Dog Publishers, sponsored by First for Women Insurance Brokers, hosts the annual Women in Media Awards, which acknowledge a rising media star, a lifetime achiever and South Africa’s top female media leaders. There are other awards ceremonies around the theme.
Of course, the fact that these awards take place highlights the gender inequality gap, but the point is that there are success stories of female leaders overcoming the male-orientated obstacles in the media sphere — Esmaré Weideman, Ferial Haffajee, Phylicia Oppelt, Paula Fray, Terry Volkwyn, Basetsana Kumalo and Eureka Zandberg.
Finally, and importantly, Van der Westhuizen did not offer a compelling argument for the way forward. Merely having equal representation of male and female media leaders is not enough. Rather there needs to be a focus on the diversity of voices. — Sandra Gordon, chief executive, Wag the Dog Publishers
Not having sex is no solution
Over the past few weeks we learned that there are now seven billion people on the planet and we were given an uncomfortable voyeur’s view into the private life of the minister of sport, Fikile Mbalula (“Sex, lies and the Mbalula boo-boo“, November 4). We learnt that he, a politician, is human — like all of us who share a continuum of sexual and reproductive health practices.
These practices are our own business as consenting human beings, and take many forms.
A few of us are heterosexual, monogamous and married, many are single parents, a handful are polygamists and some of us are lesbian, gay, bisexual or even transgender and intersexed. We choose with whom we have sex, how we want to partner and how we want to formalise that partnership — or not.
The abstinence framework comes from a Christian influence that had its stronghold in the United States and was enjoyed by the previous president, George W Bush, who exported it as a HIV-prevention tool.
This thinking is not based on evidence and research has indicated that those exposed to abstinence teachings tend to be unprepared for sex, have riskier sex and more unplanned pregnancies and are at risk from sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
Our government was held to these policies through US-funded HIV-prevention strategies adopted by various departments, including health, education and social development. Clearly, Mbalula also got the briefing to preach abstinence.
Well, abstinence is just not cricket. Our Constitution is clear on providing for reproductive health and has clauses to prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. With these freedoms come responsibilities and rights to reproductive health.
We learned recently that, on average, South African women have about 2.7 children, and we learned that the decrease in our fertility rate was owed to development factors. Progress in development, in terms of education, housing, gender equality and transport, have a long way to go — but we have come a long way from our recent history.
Mbalula is better qualified to speak on the matters of cricket than I am, but I would urge the government to take a reality check, lead by example, breathe in our Constitution and be informed by science and evidence. About 50% of pregnancies are unplanned; could Mbalula be part of that 50% and have added to the seven billion? We all need to take responsibility for our actions, not just poor black women.
Our children — and we — need a good, healthy dose of comprehensive sex education to teach us about the different parts of our body and how they work, and how to address feelings and emotions and sexuality from the earliest of grades with content that is age appropriate.
The department of health will soon launch a new contraception policy that includes a wider range of quality contraceptive methods. This should form part of the development package in creating a better life for all, with housing, education, transport and gender equality.
I am sure it will contribute towards South African teams playing better cricket too, fair play and all. — Marion Stevens, Wish Associates
False alignment of Israel and apartheid
I was born in South Africa and was part of the struggle against apartheid.
Having lived in Israel for nine years, I say to Barbara Hogan (“Echoes of SA’s struggle are deafening“, November 4): beware of false comparisons and of romanticising the plight of the Palestinians.
South Africa faced a struggle against an evil regime denying human rights to the majority of its population. Israel fights a defensive battle against evil regimes dedicated to the destruction of a tiny state surrounded by 22 large Arab states.
Take into account what Israel is up against.
Fatah, Hamas and Hezbollah threaten loudly that their goal is the annihilation of Israel and all Jews. Thousands of missiles and weapons are smuggled into Gaza and used against innocent Israeli citizens.
The Israeli soldier Hogan mentions, who was released by the Palestinians in a swap, spent five-and-a-half years in a basement without access to the Red Cross, sunlight or communication with his family.
The released Palestinians were convicted terrorists who had been in First World prisons, with healthy food, exercise, visitation rights, even conjugal rights for prisoners with life sentences for murder, as well as educational rights. Many convicted terrorists come out of jail with degrees.
Do not confuse heroes such as Nelson Mandela being released after 27 years with those such as Ahlam Tamimi, the unrepentant murderess who arranged a suicide bombing in downtown Jerusalem and could not contain her glee at 15 killed, including eight children, and 130 innocent Israelis injured.
She said she would do it again.
Another was Musab Hashlemon, serving 17 life sentences for murdering 16 bus passengers.
Nasser Yataima planned suicide bombings at a Passover celebration in a hotel.
Abd al Aziz Salaha was photographed with his bloody hands after lynching two Israeli reservists.
And so on.
Do not confuse the South African police arresting people for subversive poetry, even for blowing up an electric pylon, with the terrorism Israel faces.
Peaceful protest is a part of life in Israel.
Peaceful protest in the village of Nabi Saleh is known for becoming violent. Its resistance organiser, Bassem Tamimi, must take responsibility for standing on rooftops and inciting this violence, especially inciting children to throw rocks.
Israeli soldiers facing this onslaught show more restraint than any other army in the world. They are forbidden from protecting themselves unless their lives are directly threatened.
This is not a matter of university students standing on Jan Smuts Avenue with signs saying: “Free Nelson Mandela, free all political prisoners.”
These are murderous enemies sworn to destroy Israel. — Jennifer Levine
Wind turbines suck money out of economy
Rod Gurzynski (“Some real research“, Letters, November 4) questions my assertion that wind power destroys more jobs than it creates.
There has been much research to confirm this. A Spanish study in 2009 concluded: “For every one green job financed by Spanish taxpayers, 2.2 jobs were lost.”
The Study of the Effects on Employment of Public Aid to Renewable Energy Sources, University of Rey Juan Carlos, also says: “Each ‘green’ megawatt installed on average destroyed 5.39 jobs elsewhere in the economy.”
Most of the green megawatts are from wind turbines.
The reason is easy to see. Suppose you hired thousands of people to dig a hole 2 kilometres wide by 2 kilometres deep in the Karoo and then you hired thousands more to fill it in again. This would indeed employ a lot of people. But this enormous waste of money sucked out of the productive economy would cause a net loss of jobs.
It’s the same with wind turbines. They are extremely expensive and cause huge environmental disruption. They are so unreliable and unpredictable as to be essentially useless, as shown all over northern Europe last winter. The United Kingdom has more than 3 000 wind turbines with a total capacity of more than 5 000 megawatts, but there were 124 occasions from 2008 to 2010 when their total output was less than 20 megawatts. Wind power can exist only with huge operating subsidies that suck money out of the productive economy and so destroy jobs. — Andrew Kenny, Noordhoek
Tell us how the white boys made their millions
In the next issue of the Mail & Guardian I hope you will profile — on the front page, as you did with Julius Malema (November 4 2011) — one of the white boys who splash their wealth all over Clifton, Camp’s Bay and Plettenberg Bay, and tell us how they made their millions.
It is a given that whites deserve to be millionaires but a black person must answer to the judges of morality — newspaper editors. The fact is that as long as the media in this country is controlled by whites, black people will not get fair treatment.
Oh, how I miss the M&G of the 1990s. — Bonga Mthembu, Cape Town