Date: 26/09/2004
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: N Pandor: HERS-SA Academy


ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, N PANDOR, AT THE HERS-SA ACADEMY 2004, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, Waterfront, Cape Town, 26 September 2004

Lesley Shackleton, Director of HERS-SA
Vice Chancellors and other representatives of universities and technikons
Members of the 2004 Academy
Ladies and Gentlemen

It gives me great pleasure to be with you this evening at the start of your week-long programme of workshops and speakers. I am delighted that from your humble beginnings, primarily focussed on the Western Cape, the Academy now draws women from all over the country and beyond. May I particularly welcome our colleagues from other parts of Africa. Your presence will no doubt greatly enrich the proceedings.

I must start by congratulating HERS-SA for developing and sustaining activities to support the professional development of women in higher education. For many women, exposure to the networking and training opportunities offered by academies such as this one can be potentially life changing by opening the prospect of new opportunities and possibilities.

Some years ago, while on the staff of the University of Cape Town, I too was fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in a summer academy at Bryn Mawr in the United States. That experience certainly brought to the fore the need for structured opportunities for the professional development of potential leaders in higher education. The challenge of ensuring that there is indeed a rich pool of women capable of taking up leadership roles in our higher education is too important to be left to chance.

As a country, we have made major strides in putting gender firmly on the national agenda. Over ten short years, we have made gains that many other countries can only dream of. Few mature democracies can equal the level of participation of women that our parliament enjoys. The presence of a critical mass of women members of parliament has been very important in the adoption of legislation that is not only gender sensitive but also promotes the rights and interest of the poor and marginalised in our society.

In education, I believe that a proper appraisal of the progress that has been made in achieving gender equity is a pre-requisite for planning and prioritising our interventions for the coming years. It is for this reason that I am commissioning a review of progress in implementing the recommendations of the gender equity task team