WOMEN AND GLOBALISATION
Pregs Govender
This editorial, taken from a speech by Pregs Govender, was first presented at the Meeting of the Commission on Globalisation - London, December 2001.
I invite you to join me in looking through the eyes of women who want a world where all life is valued – every single life - regardless of gender, race, class, caste, age, religion and all the other divides that establish patriarch’s hierarchy. A world in which the Earth’s resources – material and human - are equitably, respectfully and justly shared and appreciated. Where basic needs - of food, water, shelter, healthcare, and education – are met. Where there is work of dignity and where every person is able to develop to the fullest of their creative human potential. A world governed by values of sharing, co-operation, love, peace, respect and courage as opposed to greed, hate, cowardice and fear. I invite you to look with eyes, which see in a holistic, integrated way.
When you look through these eyes you will see that globalisation is very good for you – if you are wealthy or middle-class. You can own your own cell phone and computer and you can take advantage of the worldwide web. You can have access to the latest scientific and technological advances. You can treat the world as your casino and speculate with your fortune and the lives of billions. You can own your own media company and chose what constitutes valuable news.
But if you look through these eyes you will not accept only what is made visible. You will look at who and what is invisible and who and what is silenced, who and what and whose work and contribution is valued. You will see all forms of injustice, exploitation, oppression, dispossession – you will see the global apartheid that exists all around us. " structural adjustment policies, the debt, and their conditionalities for loans, contrary to the rhetoric, have not enabled countries to break out of the cycles of poverty.
If you are looking through these women’s eyes you will refuse to be treated as a marginalized victim. Instead, you will recognize your own agency and your power. Your hope will come from the fact that in the midst of poverty you have sustained families and communities; in the midst of war you have reached across and taken each others hands; in the midst of the decimation of forests, you have planted trees; in the aftermath of the war that was apartheid, you rise to create groundbreaking constitutions, laws, policies, budgets and programmes through the resources of government and independent creative social movements. Your actions of hope a bulwark against sinking into despair and bitterness. Neither will you be deluded into apathy and complacency.
When you look through these women’s eyes, you will know that you are the missing ingredient. You are the reason so many global initiatives - such as the UN Conferences, Conventions, World Bank Reports, Economic Forums - have not worked to end poverty (the global gap between the rich and the poor is worse than ever) or the violence that permeates homes and countries (in increasingly brutal expression). So you know that there must be ways of using our collective wisdom and experience to forge new ways of seeing, listening and acting with the power of love and courage, to transform this horrific world order. You will not be content with the old notions of power and leadership and how they shape our institutions. You will take the risk to ensure that your work goes beyond those you know to encompass those who most challenge you, to develop real solutions, ensure that our process is as important as our ‘products’, and that we break the silences and invisibilities that exist among us.
In the African spirit of Ubuntu ("I am because you are"), I end with a greeting symbolising deep respect for the self and the "other": "Namaskaram" – the god/goddess in me greets the god/goddess in you."
Pregs Govender is a feminist activist; she resigned as an MP from the South African Parliament on 31/05/2002. She was the only ANC MP to register an abstention on the defence budget vote. She also wrote the influential report on "How best can SA address the impact of HIV/AIDS on Women and Girls".
Writing, researching and educating for policy leadership and institutional transformation.
Pregaluxmi@iafrica.com
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