Sex and politics in South Africa

A demand that all government offices be filled equally by women and men is roiling the Republic of South Africa.
Earlier this month in Pretoria, "[h]undreds of women brought traffic in the capital to a standstill" as "they marched ... to hand over a memorandum demanding an equal gender representation in all state sectors." Among those who voiced their support for the proposal was the country's Minister of Communications, Dr. Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri (left), who urged the crowd: "Let's work collectively and confront hierarchy, no compromise and no going back."
The 50-50 proposal seems now to have fallen prey to the power struggle between factions of the African National Congress. Among those in the midst of that struggle is Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (right). Appointed the 1st woman Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Republic by President Thabo Mbeki, she is a reputed candidate to succeed Mbeki, and also the ex-wife of Mbeki's rival, Jacob Zuma. At a public meeting yesterday Dlamini-Zuma slammed opponents of the equity plan. Her core point in favor of equity:

Women in the majority of countries, if not in all, form more than half the population. And they produced the other half.