Dr Nozi Mjoli
The South African government has put in place an enabling policy, legal and strategic framework for promoting gender equality in society.
Government-led initiatives have focused on increasing the representation of women in leadership positions without paying attention to the root causes of poor participation of women in leadership positions in society.
No effort has been dedicated to the elimination of the deeply entrenched beliefs about the low status of women in society which have been perpetuated by patriarchy for centuries.
Gender inequality in society is a product of social programming which has played a central role in keeping the pillars of patriarchy in place by ensuring that beliefs about men as natural leaders and women as subordinates are deeply entrenched in the minds of boys and girls from early childhood.
Contrary to the belief that tougher laws are needed to enforce gender equality in society, it is clear that the achievement of gender equality in society requires a change in the mindset of women.
Women must adopt empowering beliefs about their power to shape their destiny by discarding all the negative gender stereotypes that have kept them as subordinates to men.
Women must embrace the belief that all men and women are born equal with unlimited potential to be successful leaders.
Government initiatives have not paid much attention to the empowerment of men so that they could understand the implication of gender equality on the power dynamics between women and men.
This omission has led to an increase in the incidence of gender based violence at a household level and in the workplace because men are ill-prepared to accept the female leaders as equal partners.
The advancement of women to top leadership positions poses a threat to men because their entitlement to leadership positions which was been bestowed upon them by patriarchy for centuries is under threat.
Traditionally, top executive positions were only reserved for men and women dominated in support roles.
As more women advance to top executive leadership positions and earn huge salary packages, men feel that their traditional roles as heads and providers for their households are under threat.
The financially independent women are no longer willing to play their traditional roles as subordinates to men in society.
Women have used their new found economic power to acquire assets thus leading to an increase in the number of female headed households.
This poses a threat to men who had traditionally relied on their financial power to control women who had no income or were poorly paid.
Men are struggling to adapt to this change in the power dynamics and women have no role models for navigating meaningful relationships with men who earn less money than they do.
The men who were brought up in traditional families where patriarchy was deeply entrenched are feeling frustrated because there are no empowerment programmes to prepare them to navigate relationships with the financially independent women.
Consequently men with low emotional intelligence are likely to use violence to put these successful women in their subordinate position.
Initiatives that focus on addressing the symptoms of gender inequality by increasing representation of women in decision making positions must be coupled with the empowerment of men and women to navigate relationships in a gender equal society.
Patriarchy worked well during the Stone Age when men were hunters and women were nurturers for their families and needed protection from the harsh elements that prevailed in the ancient society.
With the advent of modern society, the value of patriarchy is being questioned because it denies half of the population opportunities to fulfil their full social and economic development potential.
Instead of blaming men and patriarchy for the perpetuation of gender inequality, women as mothers must lead the change through the social programming of their baby boys and girls from early childhood for a gender equal society by entrenching beliefs that boys and girls have potential to become great leaders of society.
The awareness that social programming is responsible for the perpetuation of subordinate roles of women to men can give women power to change beliefs about gender roles that are no longer relevant in the 21st century.
Women also need to learn to negotiate power relations with their partners by helping them to accept them as equal partners with common interests.
Gender equality can be institutionalised by adopting the Swedish education model which teaches gender equality at preschool level with the aim of making young children aware that girls and boys have equal ability to become successful in any career irrespective of their gender.
The promotion of gender equality in society will improve the quality of life for the whole society because men and women will able to achieve their full potential as productive citizens and significantly reduce the dependency on social welfare.
Dr Nozi Mjoli is a gender activist and chairperson of the Water Research Commission. She writes in her personal capacity.