HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 858387,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/858387/?format=api",
"text_counter": 419,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nambale, ANC",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Sakwa Bunyasi",
"speaker": {
"id": 2511,
"legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
"slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
},
"content": "of the voters. If the mindset of the voters, who are predominantly women, were to change, we would achieve this and we would be crying foul because women would have had a lock on the electoral seats around the country. Part of the public participation ought to have been, although there is no time to do that, re-education. As we go forward, women must be told that they need to have the confidence to elect whoever they feel is competent including one of their own gender. If we did that, this would be completely unnecessary. I hope that will happen. Quite apart from the fact that issues of capacity and competence are not restricted by gender, we know that even in militaries around the world women are playing commando and combat roles. I use that as a symbol to mean that even in areas that were traditionally spared for men on the basis of the fact that they are stronger with technology, the tact is coming from the mind. Women are playing all these roles. I hope the churches such as mine that do not allow women to be ordained will allow them to be so that in all spheres of life we have them. Women play a big role outside Parliament, even in electoral and leadership roles. We want them to see the entire spectrum that in fact, they can play a role, as they do in our families. In my family and community, I can say without any sense of contradiction that women are the glue and provide the energy that drives our communities. Unfortunately, in respect of parliamentary and electoral positions, you do not get their numbers as many. That is why I feel there is an attitude or problem that probably as we go forward, we will take care of. This change will provide a structural change in our society. It will be a structural change in the sense that the composition of institutions will change. The functioning of institutions is not a structural change for now. It is social transformation. The functioning of institutions will change. People will see possibilities that did not seem to exist before. I am sure if we change the gender composition of this House or overturn it, the way House acts, the way the House thinks and the way the House debates will change. That is something we may be losing now. There is some real gain. As we seek to achieve big words and changes like the social transformation of this Republic, we must think about structural transformation. This is one of the main pillars of structural transformation. I do not think we will have the reverse happening in 20 years. Personally, I think 20 years is too long for this period. It should not read 20 and 10. It should read, not until we shall have achieved the two-thirds gender rule will the rule now be relaxed and removed. In fact, it should remain permanently because once we achieve it, it will not apply. But once we reach a point where it is overachieved, for purposes of this discussion, and the male group becomes endangered, it will kick back again. We will need it. We will not need to pass a new rule. In fact, I would think we leave it open. Let it stay until we achieve it and if it overdoes, it will protect the likes of me. I will definitely not be in this House, I am sure for this argument, and I may not be in this world. It is something that is critically important. In my community and many communities across the Republic enrolment in school between girls and boys is slightly more for girls than boys. Now in secondary schools, it is more than 50 per cent women. Overall, we are over 45 per cent now in total. We are creating a cadre of people that have a lot, know a lot and have a lot to offer. Let us not have any glass ceilings in respect of this. Why is that so important? It is because young women take leadership in chamas, SACCOs - I think Hon. Sossion is probably in the House - in the teaching profession, if it had not been for women who have stabilised presence in schools, we would be struggling a lot. We can achieve as much as they have done there. What happens then? When young people see that they can be anything they want be, intellectually, they are becoming neurosurgeons and the rest The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}