EXPO 200 AND WOMEN IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

by Tinashe Madava

As the EXPO 2000 to be held in the Germany city of Hannover next year approaches, women from southern Africa are bracing for the occasion which they see as a lifetime opportunity to show the world that they can stand out there and be counted too.

A gender-specific event, which will mark the turn of the century at the Exposition 2000, will be in the form of an all "women's university" called the International Women's University (IFU).

IFU is an international university, interdisciplinary in scope and methodology of academic work, and intercultural across all political borders as well as ethnic and religious divides.

With the theme "Technology and Culture", the IFU is being touted as the first and, so far, only gender-specific university of its kind in Europe, a bold innovation by, for and about women.

Among the lecturers for the university are two academics from the region, Professor Patricia McFadden based in Zimbabwe and Mapula Lebone from South Africa.

"To be the first students of this international endeavour, which is a milestone in itself, will enable women from the region to interact with their peers from the globe, not as the stereotyped poor illiterate African women but as intellectuals," said McFadden, one of the academics from southern Africa who is one of the deans of the University, in an interview recently.

Describing the opportunity as a perfect way to enter the next century, McFadden said that women from southern Africa should take the opportunity to show that the region is vibrant in terms of the discourse in feminism and governance.

"The dynamism of the continent is here, the region has consolidated itself well," she said.

Since this will be an international university, questions have been asked on how it will seek to advance the causes of women in developing countries. Gender activists in southern Africa, though praising the idea as a bold innovation and a step in the right direction towards women's emancipation, have expressed concern on how this will benefit the underprivileged in the region.

Between 15 July and 15 October during the Expo 2000, the IFU will offer 900 female students from around the world the opportunity to participate in a postgraduate research and study programme in English. The application deadline was extended to 30 November.

To ensure a broad cultural spectrum, a regional quota has been fixed: Germany should account for no more than one third of the total number of students, and at least a third should come from the developing countries; the remaining third should come from other industrialized countries as well as from Eastern Europe.

It's first semester, under the overall theme of "Technology and Culture", will offer postgraduate academic work in six project areas which are of special interest to the women of the world in the new millennium: Body, City, Information, Migration, Water and Work. These themes are of global significance, politically and socially explosive because of their strong focus on gender.

IFU will provide three months of regular classes and cooperative research, with more traditionally set-up courses, lectures and workshops combined with more non-conventional forms of expression, for example theatre performances, video presentations and other forms of cultural expression and communication, based on the participants' cultural backgrounds and heritage. In addition, IFU will provide excursions to other parts of Germany, for inspiration, socialising and recreation.

After Expo 2000, a permanent women's network is planned for an exchange of ideas and knowledge transfer among IFU alumnae. In a long-range perspective, and supported by modern information technologies, the setting up of a virtual university is planned to serve this purpose systematically and with various forms of institutional support.

IFU was originally founded as the registered society "International Frauenuniversitat" in July 1997. On March 31 1999, the Federal State of Lower Saxony and the International Women's University Association jointly founded the International Women's University as a private company.

Fund acquisition is carried out by IFU's initiators at both national and international level, enabling grants to be awarded to at least 40 percent of the students. The main objective is to ensure the participation of students from the developing countries and Eastern Europe. The grants will be awarded on the basis of academic criteria by commissions of experts.

The university was brought into existence by a loosely connected group of committed academic women at German Institutions of higher education who have been successful in gaining the collaboration of about 150 women instructors from culturally and geographically diverse backgrounds to form the teaching staff for the university, and in securing the support of government agencies, political and industrial foundations as well as private philanthropists.

For southern African intellectual women, the International Women's University brings an opportunity of hope, intellectual challenge and a "really perfect way to enter the millennium". (SARDC)