MEDIA AND MARKETING CLIVE SIMKINS
‘DESPITE equality, wage parity and liberation, women still can’t: start barbecue fires, hook up a stereo, shine shoes, do anything on a roof, hang a picture, investigate mysterious house noises at night, kill and dispose of large insects, walk past a mirror without stopping to look.” — National Lampoon 1979.
Womanism, Trend 5 in the Ogilvy & Mather survey of the black market, says: “Wrong, boys!” and is a tribute to the influence of oestrogen. Against all male chauvinistic odds, the power and determination of women is growing rapidly. They are becoming highly vocal and influential about their needs and wants. A future dream and first world parallel is, of course, the Swedish parliament, which now comprises 40 percent females.
Women have historically been the backbone of South African society. Examples: the 1820 settler women, the Great Trek women, the Anglo Boer war women. Finally emerging in their rightful slot in history are the women behind the oppressed, the politicians, the decision-makers and captains of industry, in particular, the black women, long held captive in the shadows of their husbands by tradition.
Women, black and white, have been the fabric backing, holding together the fragments comprising male-dominated society. In 1960 men made up 79 percent of the labour force in South Africa. In 1991 this had dwindled to 61 percent and is expected to fall to 58 percent or less by 2011. In 1992, nearly two-million South African households were headed by women.
The black woman moving centre stage is going to impose even greater stress on fragmented family units. Example: talented young female insurance agent pulls in R20 000 a month. Husband earns R3 000 a month. He openly admits to feeling he’s “lost control” over her because of her earnings, that his traditional role as head of the family has been “usurped”. Relationship and family are now in crisis.
This year, confirming emerging trends, the female client base of the Small Business Development Corporation rose sharply to 28 percent. SBDC statistics also show the success rate for women is better than for men. Parallel: women own 40 percent of businesses in the US. By 2000, they’ll own 50 percent.
All this despite the fact that black women in South Africa are slowly emerging from an American deep- South type subjugation. Only some 30 percent live in urban areas, with 22 percent in metropolitan areas. Less than a quarter have water in the home; less than a third electricity. Only 21 percent are employed full time. Nearly a third of black women have a personal income of under R500 a month. Only eight percent of black adult women have completed high school. In urban areas this statistic is marginally higher at 13 percent.
Aggression, courtesy of testosterone, has often been a political success predictor for males. A kinder, gentler hormonal invasion now appears set to ring the changes in the country.
As Charles de Gaulle said: “Men are of no importance. What counts is who commands.” Taken wickedly out of context, it fits beautifully.