Beijing Platform for Action; National Gender Machinery & SADC declaration

IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AND STATUS OF WOMEN JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE
09 June 2006
BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION; NATIONAL GENDER MACHINERY & SADC DECLARATION

Chairperson: Ms M Morutoa (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Presentation by the Presidency –National office on the status of women: Part one, two & three
South Africa’s National Policy Framework for women’s empowerment & Gender equality
Office of the Premier: SIYABULELA Deliverable Campaign, progress report- June 2006
SADC Declaration on Gender & Development
PGWC intranet Document
Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women
Beijing Platform for Action
Optional Protocol entered into force: 22 December 2000

SUMMARY
The Office on the Status of Women in the Presidency briefed the Committee on the consideration of compliance with the Beijing Platform for Action also highlighting the role of the Committee in the National gender Machinery and SADC declaration. Committee received briefings on the Provincial progress on the programs regarding Women, Youth and people with disabilities

MINUTES
Essop Pahad, Minister in the Presidency, and Dr Ellen Kornegay, Chief Director of Programmes, the Presidency, briefed the Committee on the work that the Office on the Status on Women (OSW) had embarked on in response to the SADC declaration on Gender Equality and the consideration of compliance with the Beijing Platform for Action.

Dr Kornegay spoke briefly on the provincial budget allocation to accommodate programs of the OSW. The presentation also covered findings of a survey conducted in provinces which indicated that the Western Cape was the only province that did not have a formal OSW structure. She touched on the level of gender focal points in national departments, their appointment and area of responsibility.

The Committee was concerned that there was no national women’s movement, other than the ANC Women’s League, that focused on the issues of women generally.

Minister Pahad indicated to the Committee that the Presidency could offer very limited help in creating awareness around gender equality. Much work needed to be carried out by Portfolio Committees in Parliament. He was not confident that the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) on Women was doing enough to address issues affecting women.

Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the Western Cape made brief reports to the Committee on the progress made with regard to the structure and budget allocation of the OSW. (See documents for budgets)

Discussion
Ms B Ngcobo (ANC) commented that she had problems with the notion that women needed to be placed in employment positions even when a man proved to be the stronger candidate. She believed that women were equally strong, given the right opportunities. She asked whether or not there was a Pan African Parliament that sought to address women’s issues.

Ms Kornegay said that she was not sure if there was a formal women’s caucus at national level, but would find out and report to the Committee. The Minister indicated that initiating a women’s caucus was not a responsibility of the Presidency. The JMC could start up the process.

Ms J Masilo (ANC) complimented the North West Province for the manner in which they had spent their budget. She indicated that she was pleased with the manner in which OSWs were structured.

Ms Botha (DA) thanked the Minister for the challenging thoughts that he had shared with the Committee.  She questioned whether or not there were any lessons learnt from the trend in which provinces performed and structured their offices.

Ms Kornegay said that there were lessons picked up from how provinces had structured their offices. The challenges that had emerged were being addressed and the OSW would try to ensure that all Provinces had proper structures in place to deliver services.

 Ms J Vilakazi (IFP) proposed that the Offices on the Status of Women, Disabled People and Children meet for an interactive discussion affecting them.

The Committee welcomed the proposal.

Mr F Maserumule (ANC) suggested that the gender focal points be placed under critical positions where they would be able to make critical decisions and have more influence on the operation of matters. He referred to positions such as the Office of the Mayor, the Premier and so on. He was not sure why South Africa was still battling to address issues regarding women and disabled people while the country had entered into its twelfth year of democracy. He was concerned that it seemed that women themselves were not giving each other enough support in dealing with the matters at hand.

The Minister responded that it was not appropriate to say that South Africa had not made any progress in addressing key problems affecting women. There were programs in place that had proven to be effective. He said that it was possible that men caused most of those problems. It was problematic that the Committee had only one man present. He challenged the Committee, especially the men, to stand up and sort out problems that emerged. It was important to empower women, because the stronger women became, the more men became better people.

A member of the Gender Action Group commented that there was no need to be apologetic about gender discrimination. What was critical was to ensure that the institutional culture was conducive for an enhancement of women empowerment.

Ms Ngcobo asked whether or not the Integrated National Disability Strategy was helping in integrating people with disabilities in the programs that provinces were working on.

Representatives from the Provincial Government of the Western Cape responded that the Western Cape had an integrated policy framework developed by the Office on the Status of Disabled persons.

Ms M Themba congratulated the Western Cape for having completed a draft policy framework   in place. She said that this would enable implementation phases to take place without delays.

The Chairperson commented that amongst other things that the Committee prioritised was seeing the completion of the Sexual Offences Bill.

The Deputy Chairperson, Ms E Mabe (ANC) thanked Ms Kornegay for the contribution she had made while working with the JMC on Women. She said that on behalf of the Committee, she wished her well in all her future endeavours.

The Chairperson thanked the Minister and everyone who had participated at the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.