Address by His Excellency Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Deputy President of the Republic Of South Africa, at the Public Service Gender Indaba

Salutations

Programme director, Ms Colette Clark
Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ms Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi
Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) Director General, Professor Richard Levin
Vice Minister of Human Rights and Gender in Burundi, Ms Rose Nduwayo
African Union (AU) Commission Director of Women, Gender and Development, Ms Litha Musyimi Ogana
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Regional Director, Ms Nomcebo Manzini
Southern African Development Community (SADC) Gender Secretariat
Ladies and gentlemen

It is a great pleasure to be part of this indaba in which we will be discussing issues of gender equality and women empowerment as issues that represent the cornerstone of our Constitution.

I am heartened by the presence of many women senior managers in the public service who represent a clear testimony that South Africa is taking the right direction to recognise women for their abilities, expertise and talents.

We are fortunate that at this point in our democracy, the issue of women empowerment is not a matter of contestation but a generally agreed upon principle that everyone from all sectors embraces and seeks to advance.

The achievements made thus far in this area show that indeed the future looks bright for the country because of the stance we took to ensure equal participation in all important processes of our country. It does matter of the sectors

You are all familiar by now with the figures:

To date, the number of women in government across all salary levels totals more than six hundred thousand (600 000) compared to men at more than five hundred thousand (500 000). The challenge is raise the numbers in senior government positions. This is something to be applauded!

Women in the public service

As women, we must take pride in the fact that empowerment in South Africa is seen as translating to active citizenship and that the pursuit for transformation has presented remarkable opportunities for us to the benefit and for our families and society at large. As you all know, to capacitate a women is to empower society.

Government takes pride in leading by example in the process of transformation and gender equality compared to other sectors in our country. We must take this opportunity to thank our former President Nelson Mandela and our current President Thabo Mbeki for the confidence they've bestowed in the women of our country by paving the way for them to be accorded the necessary recognition in different sectors.

As a result and through his commitment of our leadership, the representation of women in cabinet has steadily increased over the years with women constituting 42,8% of Ministers. Today we are proud as a country to have women holding 40% of deputy minister positions and filling four of the nine premier posts in the country.

This great achievement will indeed mean nothing if the same recognition is not given to the women who are driving the state machinery from the bottom. For this reason, we are glad that we have 34% of senior management post occupied by women in government.

This indaba offers us the opportunity to take into stock the challenges and opportunities in realising our equity target (50% representation).

Of course we are still behind the 50% target but we are encouraged that the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) is consulting other departments to determine the challenges experienced in our attempt to reach this goal.

We hope that the DPSA will act in a Business Unusual manner to fast track this process and ensure that we employ more women into these senior positions in our quest to bring about equality.

Last year, South Africa ranked 20th in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index, a measurement of political empowerment, economic participation, educational attainment and health and survival across 128 countries around the world.

While South Africa was the only African country to feature in the index's top twenty, it scored particularly well on issues relating to the political empowerment of women while corresponding measures around the economic participation of women saw it drop to a low 85th place on the index.

This shows that we are indeed making strides despite the backlog in meeting the equity targets, which we still believe are attainable.

On a lighter note, the manner in which we are rated internationally suggests that empowered women resist the temptation of embarking upon corrupt or fraudulent activities because this will tarnish our reputation even if such acts are attempted by the few.

As women, we should embody high moral standards inherent in Botho Ubuntu and I believe these high standards should be promoted further not only in our families, but also in the workplace.

Let us work tirelessly to root out corruption in our departments and expose other intolerances such as sexual harassment and gender discrimination.

Skills development and training

But for us to succeed in meeting the equity targets at the senior management level, we must encourage other women in the lower ranks to attend skills development and training courses for them to keep abreast with trends in the public service.

Currently, the number of women employed in the public service amount to 54.3%, some of whom I believe should be mentored to climb up the ladder to the senior management level. These indicators should serve as an inspiration for the realisation of the equity target.

Minister Fraser-Moleketi, let us ensure that the Human Resource Development Strategic Framework does indeed create a bigger pool of women with prospects for upward mobility to senior management system (SMS) positions so that we eventually achieve the 50% target. This is neither an elusive nor impractical target, we can and we will achieve it! We have the will!

I am certain that we do have capable women in middle management who can work their way up, and this is what we must encourage to bring to fruition gender mainstreaming.

As women managers, it is our responsibility to ensure that there is gender equality in the intake of learners and interns for experiential training. This will help us create a foundation of equity in the labour market, with equal levels of professional confidence between young women and men.

One of the challenges facing our country, which contributes towards poverty, is the fact that women and youth still constitute the majority of the unemployed.

It this context, our work in the public service must be geared towards increasing the participation rates of women in the labour force, and women with disability, especially black women and youth in the 15 to 34 year age group so that they can get the relevant experience, are employable and thus able to provide for their families.

These are the people that, when given the opportunity, must be mentored properly for them to confidently assert themselves as professionals in the workplace and contribute productively at work.

Women and social welfare

I think we all know the role that women play in families as mothers, wives and single parents. We also know that the majority of people living in poverty and subsisting in the second economy are women.

It therefore necessitates that we do everything possible to ensure that they come out of poverty through job creation and support for their small businesses or projects and so that they provide for their children.

Most women here will agree that they use a large percentage of their salaries to take care of their families' health and education. Now this should not be a privilege confined to only us gathered here, we must make it possible for other women out there to enjoy the same rights.

It is true that when a woman has income in a household, she is more likely to impact on the welfare of the family than if a man had the same income. I am raising these issues to highlight an important role that allows us as female public officials to play a meaningful role at work, in our families and in society.

"Every time you offer a job to a woman, you derive a greater benefit to the entire society."

Gone are the days when many of our women were mainly participating in the informal agricultural sector for a meagre income. Our task and responsibility is now to diversify our participation in the economy and ensure that we also participate in the formal sector of the economy.

We are reviewing our anti poverty strategy. The main aim here is to turn around the system, to ensure that more and more people become self reliant. If people remain depended to the State, we would not have the next generation of senior managers.

As civil servants, we should provide efficient service to the public, so that we can address the socio economic challenges facing our people.

I want to commend women in the Senior Management Service (SMS) for the work that they are doing to help government deliver efficient services to the general population, especially essential services to the poorest of the poor.

It is also fitting, that I take advantage of this conference to urge you to serve the people of South Africa with pride and dedication in line with the Batho Pele principles, work together to:
* support workplace gender initiatives
* mainstream gender in all policy formulation and implementation
* learn skills to successfully mainstream gender.

I am confident that you will continue to do the good work of 'Engendering the Public Service Policy.'

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
18 August 2008