Date: 11/08/2010
Source: The Democratic Alliance
Title: DA: Duncan: Speech by DA Member of Parliament, on the Women's Day debate, National Assembly, Cape Town

Mr Speaker, social ills affecting women escalate. Relationships are at an all time low. Unemployment and poverty break families up. We have all forms of violence and abuse. We speak about women every year. Women's Day comes and goes. We deliberate, debate, promises are made, weaknesses in the system of government highlighted, but year in, year out, the same songs are sung. Some organisations and institutions only come alive during women's month.

The ANC led government established the Office on the Status of Women (OSW) structure. This structure, although working hard in the early years, endured many pressures whilst under the Presidency. A new Ministry then replaced it, with even more pressures - it had a weak minister, was understaffed and was underfunded. Why is it so hard to learn from these mistakes? Who benefits from this - the ANC Women's League cadres?

Mr Speaker, when the World Cup soccer arrived on the 11 June 2010 we experienced a united nation through sport, giving us moments of song, praise, rhythm and the Vuvuzela sounds. We were able to shift from our own prejudices, to support what is good. We continues supporting Bafana Bafana even after our own team Bafana Bafana exited the competition. However the Vuvuzela sound softened, the togetherness was no longer for many in our country. Everything is back to normal, uncertainty prevails again, and the theme chosen for 2010 Women's Day, "working together for equal opportunities and progress for all women" rang hollow.

So Mr. Speaker, building and sustaining the kind of energy of the World Cup, the same spirit, the same will, united as a nation, is needed to change the lives of all our people, especially our women and children. We are all responsible to achieve this.