Women must liberate themselves: Envoy

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In any country if the women are not liberated, that country will never have neither democracy nor prosperity, South Africa's top woman diplomat said in Jakarta.

"Women's liberation is key to a country's development. You will never have true democracy, if the women are not liberated. If the women are not prosperous, no country will have prosperity," South Africa's high commissioner to Singapore Zanele Makina, who is also the former women's leader from the ruling African National Congress, said in her keynote speech at a meeting in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The meeting, which was organized by the South African Embassy in Jakarta, was part of the celebrations to commemorate South Africa's National Women's Day on Aug. 9.

South Africa's Ambassador to Indonesia G. Memela invited over the famous Gauteng Choristers from Johannesburg as the star attraction for this year's Women's Day celebrations.

The choir, which was formed in 1998, mesmerized the audience with their classical songs and folk songs.

Makina said the liberation of women can be achieved only if the women liberate themselves. She also emphasized the importance of educating women.

"If you educate women, that means you are educating the whole nation," Makina explained, while emphasizing the key role of women as mother and teacher of each family's children.

In her speech as the chief guest of the program, Indonesia's State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meutia Farida Hatta Swasono said she appreciated South Africa for its progress in the empowerment of women and urged all the Asian and African countries to work toward achieving gender equality.

"Recently, we have signed the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership (NAASP) agreement. So, all the countries of Asia and Africa must focus on gender equality in order to implement the agreement," Meutia said during the gathering.

South Africa puts a lot of emphasis on women's roles in all the activities of the nation.

"We have more than 50 percent women legislators in our parliament. We have several women ministers. Now we are moving toward allocating 50 percent of all the positions available in the government to women," South African Embassy counselor Mike Membukwe told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the meeting.

Indonesian Women's Congress (Kowani) vice president Titiek S.A. Suyono hailed South Africa's progress in dealing with women's issues.

"South Africa is well ahead of us. South African women play an active role in all aspects of life. You can see it from the number of women ministers, executives, officials and diplomats," Titiek, who is a former diplomat, told the Post.