Gender Equality Bill

 The Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities made an announcement about the Gender Equality Bill in the pipeline aimed at ensuring gender parity measures being enforced across all sectors of society. Minister Noluthandu Mayende -Sibiya acknowledged while some progress has been made with gender parity, more still needs to be done and expressed the view that this new statutory intervention will assist in reaching this objective.

The yet to be released Gender Equality Bill will be an overarching statute to ensure that the challenges women face are adequately addressed. The Gender Equality Bill is to be tabled in Parliament in the near future and could become law by the end of next year.

Regarding the world of work, the Minister highlighted the slow progress of women in top management positions in the private sector. She pointed out that men still occupy 63% of such positions while African women represent less than 3% and Coloured and Indian women represent 1% each. It is claimed that an analysis of various available studies made, indicate that at the current rate of transformation, it will take nearly 40 years to achieve 50:50 parity. The issue of equal pay for equal work done needs to be addressed in the Bill as well as ensuring the 50/50 participation of women in important decision-making structures. Broad-based Economic Empowerment must also involve and benefit women more than it currently does, the Minister said.

The Minister hopes the Bill will change mind-sets in terms of understanding the important roles that women play in all spheres.

"We need to change society’s mind-sets through awareness programmes, through engagement and through educational programmes for them to understand the importance of having a society that has women who are free, who are empowered and who are aware" she said.

The Minister is hopeful the Bill will generate positive debate and support. The new Ministry for Women, Children and Disabled Persons is working on developing an empowerment fund for women with a particular attention on rural women. The fund’s focus will be on the education, skills development and finance, among others.

Some of the Department’s efforts are directed on the issues of poverty alleviation, particularly in woman-headed households and boosting economic development and opportunities for women. “Women need to stand together and unite around a common cause ", she reflects.

Pieter Rautenbach