Issued by: Office of the Presidency
6 March 2001
Introduction
Women have been the objects of systematic discrimination at the hands of men for thousands of years. Now their time has come, particularly in democratic South Africa, and it is the beginning, for the first time in our history, of a real season of development and progress for women's rights in our land.
This cause must be pursued not as a mere formality, as some sort of add-on extra to the body politic and to the business and professional world where women seek to make their way into the bright sunlight of success and plenty. It is an absolute requirement of our Constitution, it is a building-block of our nation-building, it is a common thread running through the mosaic of our national life.
There are men who give eloquent lip-service to women's rights. There are developed countries who do this, too. And yet many of them fall down badly when one looks at the actual degree of involvement of women in government, legislatures, councils, professions, business and other avenues of life in many parts of the world. Frequently, women are effectively locked out of power and influence.
And there are countries, like democratic South Africa, which, as a matter of systematic practice, carve a structured place in society for women to claim justice and break out of the dreary, drab conformity and poverty of mind and body, to break out of what has been a form of permanent slavery to men.
We must seek to empower both rural and urban women, those who prefer to go to work and those who prefer to stay at home. We must throw the full force of the state behind their right to live precisely the lives they wish, and to do with their bodies and futures what they will - without deferring to men.
We have it from the President down, for instance in his State of the Nation address, that we are in deadly earnest when we say that the cause of women will be advanced resolutely in our land. We have made much progress, particularly in national and provincial government and legislatures - though the constituency-based aspects of local government elections has tended not to produce enough women at that level; and that should be attended to in the future, particularly by political parties which talk gender but act like men's clubs.
We rank very high on the list of countries where women enjoy real power. But we can do better, and it is gratifying that this House has found it worthwhile to debate the cause and therefore to ensure that it receives a fillip in the great march to justice for women.
On the eve of international Women's Day it is appropriate for South Africa as a member of the world Community of Nations to take stock of its accomplishments as a member of this collective and as a nation nurturing an evolving democracy. In both capacities, it can be said that there have been significant accomplishments. We also acknowledge that much remains to be done because much of the successes we will continue to reap will be based on changes in attitudes of both men and women in advancing gender equality.
As members of the global community, we are heartened by the recent judgement by the international war crimes tribunal. This is the first time that a case before the international tribunal focused entirely on crimes of sexual violence and the first to enter a conviction for enslavement as a crime against humanity. This is a significant finding since it establishes rape as a war crime, rape has not been prosecuted in the general rubric of war crimes. As a result, rape is now, when used as an instrument of war, a crime against humanity.
This is a significant moment, and whilst many may say it has taken long to even get to this point, and that there are many similar cases, in conflicts in our region, which have yet to be tried. We believe that the judgement in itself, will put more impetus in our efforts and preventing war and conflicts, but when these do occur, those who commit such crimes, and are proven to have done so, will face very serious charges which carry appropriate sentences.
South Africa can point to many accomplishments. During the recent Beijing #5 review process, South Africa stood out as one of the few countries where non-sexism and non-racism are enshrined in the constitution. This action by the people of South Africa establishes an enabling environment for the advancement of the status of women. The international instruments to which South Africa is a signatory further enhance this national goal.
To this end, Cabinet approved the establishment of a gender machinery-spanning parliament, all government structures, civil society and section nine institutions.
Thus, it is a constitutional requirement in this country that all government systems, processes, structures and outputs have to be gender mainstreamed. Simply put, this means that we are a government made of women and men, serving a society made of women and men, both young and old and those with disabilities. All members of this society are to benefit equally.
As a member of a global community we have recently taken part in the Beijing Plus 5 review process, assessing with other UN member states what progress has been made in the situation of women in our countries and in the world, and assessing the challenges we continue to face.
Growing out of the Beijing Process and other international conferences, we share the following international targets:
In the first South African Report on the Implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action, we reported fully on our progress on towards compliance with the platform of action. Given that South Africa participated in the UN series of Conferences on Women for the first time at the Fourth World Conference held in Beijing, China, in 1995, we have gone a great way in establishing mechanisms and systems to enable delivery on our commitments made to the platform. We undertook a national gender audit to assess systems in place to support gender mainstreaming within government.
The Audit had the following objectives. These were to;
The Audit found that:
In summary, the audit found that between 1994 -1998, there was a concerted effort to develop a strong Gender Management System (GMS) at the national and provincial government departments.
I am proud to announce that the South African Policy Framework For Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality was approved by Cabinet in December 2000. Implicit in the policy is our commitment to embed gender equality within government's practice by mainstreaming gender within our structures and functions, but also to use our prerogative and the powerful role which government plays within our nation to influence the engendering of other parts of society.
The focus of the Policy document is on basic needs; the approach adopted in the document recognises that "the majority of South Africans live in abject poverty or in fear of becoming poor".
Hence the emphasis is to empowerment of women as a means to gender equality. Thus, the focus is on women living in rural areas. This is especially so, given that a high percentage of these women are African women. It is for this reason that the three programmes in the The Presidency are effecting a proactive approach to ensure the integration of gender, children and disability issues in the rural strategy soon to be launched.
The adoption of such projects as the rural and urban renewal strategies will enable the OSW to implement gender mainstreaming and hereby begin an active process of women's empowerment.
The document identifies some of the key challenges facing South African women. Amongst them:
The enhancement of the Gender Machinery is also considered as a key area of activity. To this end, the emphasis in the Policy Document is on mechanisms, which would enable attainment of the broad visions, espoused in the constitution and various international instruments, to be translated into programmes with measurable outputs.
There are no separate goals for the gender programme separate from the national priorities outlined by the President in his address at the opening of parliament. The principal goal of the gender programme is to engender national priorities.
After four years of operation we know the skills base required to facilitate the achievement of this goal within government. The National Policy Framework thus outlines the skills required for gender focal points in departments, it assigns roles and job descriptions to key role players including Cabinet Members, Premiers, Directors General, and the Office on the Status of Women, with respect to gender mainstreaming. The Policy Framework also spells out a Co-ordination Framework that would enable gender mainstreaming.
To date much effort has been on the development of systems within government, there is now an urgency to look at deliverables, to assess the extent to which these are gender mainstreamed. The current focus is on poverty eradication and the rural development strategy. To this end much work is at hand to ensure that the National Development Strategy incorporates gender considerations.
The focus of the Presidential Programmes in this regard is to ensure that at the nodule points, issues of gender, disability and children's rights are infused. We seek to insure that from the very outset, the Rural Development Strategy addresses these issues.