ANCWL: A VANGUARD OF ALL THOSE DISCRIMINATED DUE TO THEIR SEX AND GENDER IN A PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY

Tuesday, 11 August 2015

Johannesburg

The African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League has noted reports in the Sowetan newspaper, published today, 11 August 2015, under the headline “Gays can join ANC Women’s League”. It is important to reaffirm from the onset that the Constitution of the ANC Women’s League does not discriminate against any woman on the basis of their sexual orientation.

As such, regardless of their sexual persuasion, heterosexual or homosexual women who are 18 years old and above, are South African citizens and who undertake to carry out the decisions of the ANC Women’s League and the ANC, have always been free to join the League. What the 12th National Conference of the ANCWL sought to discuss specifically was the issue of opening up membership to the transgender community.

The term transgender describes people who experience a gender identity that is different to the sex ascribed to them by being born either as a boy or a girl when everything else other than their physical bodies indicate that they are of the opposite sex.

Some transgender people may seek to alter their physical appearance to align with their actual identity by undergoing gender realignment or affirming surgery procedures, using hormones, or undergoing sexual reassignment surgery. Many transgender people do not choose a physical transition often also because the costs of such a transition are prohibitive and express their gender identity through diverse presentations and behaviours.

What is clear is that transgender people are discriminated against, subjected to violence and excluded from the economy. The ANCWL is a vanguard for all those discriminated and oppressed due to their sex and gender in a patriarchal society that is also heteronormative. The League should be home for all women including transgender women. 

Furthermore, the ANCWL will continue to partner with other organisations championing the rights of all Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people. For most transgender persons their basic request from society is acceptance and an enabling environment that allows them to access the formal economy and services such as education and health care. It is a reality that more often than not they experience barriers to full participation in society due to their appearance from gatekeepers. This low level discrimination is what we want to root out.

The ANCWL takes seriously the fact human rights are for all people and will ensure that all people without discrimination of any kind will have their rights respected, promoted and fulfilled as stipulated in section 9(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. As such, the ANC Women’s League will continue to engage within its structures and society at large on this matter intended at full inclusion of the LGBTI community; well aware of its constitutional implications on the organisation itself. 

Statement issued by Khusela Sangoni, African National Congress Women’s League, August 11 2015