Last Updated: 10-Jan-2008

Minister Essop Pahad
Address: Women in Local Government seminar

24 August 2006

Thank you very much for inviting me to be a part of this very important seminar. August is Women's month and this year marks the 50th Anniversary of the famous Women's March on Pretoria. So it is fitting for us to remember their courage and dedication to emancipation and liberation. The 1956 Women's March is undoubtedly one of the most important events in our liberation struggle and is remarkable because it indelibly fused in our minds and in our actions the relationship between national liberation and the liberation of women.

The Women's March was also remarkable because it demonstrated that the women of South Africa were already empowered as they challenged the might of the apartheid regime even in the face of immense oppression, material deprivation and the threat of state violence. Fifty years ago the women of South Africa set in motion a train of events and undertook a form of struggle that was fundamentally about freedom and empowerment.

And as we reflect on the theme of this seminar, women empowerment in the 'Age of Hope', let us remain ever mindful of the enormous sacrifices made by women in the passive resistance campaign, in the defiance campaign, in the armed struggle and in the mass democratic movement.

As a country three of the most important issues facing us with respect to gender equality are the full socio-economic and political emancipation of women; ensuring their full integration into the labour market free from discrimination and ensuring that public sector service delivery is gender sensitive. The role of women central to the work of local government and they must take their rightful place as equals in the realisation of the mission and mandate of local government.

Our understanding of the role of women in local government must be informed by our history of struggle for gender equality, by our constitutional obligations and by our vision of creating a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. In 1994, as the first democratically elected government in the history of South Africa we had to simultaneously dismantle discriminatory and oppressive apartheid legislation and enact progressive, socially just legislation that would enable the democratic state to realise its goal of the empowerment of women. Central to this commitment was the passage of the supreme law of our country.

The Constitution protects and advances the rights of all South Africans. Chapter 2, the Bill of Rights, provides all citizens with the legal basis to protect their fundamental rights, including the right to equality. The equality clause states that 'Everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law. The State may not unfairly discriminate against anyone on one or more grounds including gender, sex or pregnancy.'

Section 9 (2) of the Constitution goes beyond the passive protection of rights and speaks directly to the challenge of transformation when it says “Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms. To promote the achievement of equality, legislative and other measures designed to protect or advance persons or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination may be taken.”

Section 9 (2) obligates the developmental state to be proactive in overcoming the legacy of apartheid. This is Constitutional. The state may if it chooses, undertake legislation and undertake policies and programmes that advance women to “protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination”. This is about making both public and private institutions representative of the people being served by these institutions.

Despite these Constitutional commitments to gender equality we must acknowledge that women in South Africa still faces huge challenges. Despite their valuable contributions to the survival and maintenance of their families and communities as caregivers and economic providers, women continue to face social, economic and cultural barriers in realising their full potential and equal rights in society. Women in South Africa continue to confront the challenge of poverty, live in informal settlements, and work in the “second economy” as street vendors, poorly paid service employees and domestic workers. Women continue to be subjected to discrimination, and stereotyping, domestic violence and sexual abuse. They are underpaid compared to their male counterparts for work of equal value, they are underrepresented in the decision making centres in the public sector and their representation in the decision making centres of the private sector is much worse.

As I reflect on the “Women's Role and Place in Local Government”, I am convinced that we are talking about issues of governance, administration, participation, employment and service delivery. We are in fact talking very specifically about:

• the numerical representation of women in elected office
• the employment of women in key decision making structures in the administration of local government
• a workplace that is free of discrimination, harassment and violence against women
• a workplace that protects and advances the rights of women
• equal access for women to goods and services offered by local government
• the centrality of women in making decisions that have a direct bearing on their socio-economic condition as women.

All spheres of government have both a moral and a constitutional obligation to implement programmes that will empower women, improve their status and advance their rights. We have a responsibility to create an enabling and an affirming environment for women to take their rightful place in society. Women must be accorded the opportunity to engage in economic activity, participate in political life and decision making and participate in cultural and sports activities and benefit from the delivery of our programmes.

This is about empowerment and mainstreaming which are two sides of the same coin. Mainstreaming is South Africa's strategy of choice for advancing equality and achieving equal access and treatment in the implementation of programmes. Given its importance to the overall national process of progress towards the realisation of rights for women, children and people with disabilities it is essential that there be a common understanding of this concept.

Empowerment is about the transformation of society, particularly the transformation of power relations between women, men, institutions and laws. It is about enabling women to deal with inequalities inherited from the past so as to become active participants in all aspects of their lives. The empowerment of women helps to level the playing field so they can make their own decisions and participate in the processes that impact on their lives. Women's empowerment programmes focus on meeting women's basic needs as well as their strategic objectives such as economic advancement and self-sufficiency.

Gender mainstreaming is a strategy to achieve gender equality and women's empowerment, and involves infusing a gender perspective into all our policies, programmes and projects from the very onset. It is about applying an analytical lens that integrates the concerns of men and women in a crosscutting way so as to reduce inequality based on sex, race and disability and class and eliminate the barriers that limit women's full participation in society and the economy as equals.

Within local government mainstreaming and empowerment require us to ensure that:

• we aim for gender parity in representation of elected officials.
• Local governments develop and implement their Employment Equity Policies and follow the lead of the National government and aim to have gender parity in management positions by 2009.
• Local governments as employers ensure that the culture of the workplace respects the rights of women.
• The gender focal point is fully resourced and is physically, politically and administratively located at the centre of decision making and that the gender desk has the responsibility of applying the gender lens to all the policies and programmes of the local authority.
• Women are not discriminated against at the cold face of service delivery.

I am certain we all agree that gender equality should not be separated from the empowerment of women, and we agree that the two are interrelated and should be treated as such to ensure that programmes are gender sensitive, successful and sustainable. This means that the services we, in all spheres of government provide have a direct and material bearing on and improve the quality of life of women who are generally responsible for organising the family and are thus the main consumers of municipal services. Women are often the caregivers of the elderly, sick and children. If services are uneven, irregular and inadequately provided, women bear the brunt and suffer disproportionately.

As the sphere of government closest to communities, local governments have the most direct impact on women. Local authorities are strategically well positioned to play a significant role in transforming the lives of millions of women and girl children by widening their access to basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity, housing, roads and transport, health care facilities, HIV and AIDS services as well as job opportunities. These must be reflected in the Integrated Development Plans of municipalities which is the main instrument and expression of government's commitment to addressing the basic needs of communities.

Local government can better respond to the challenges facing women and improve their quality of life by ensuring the full participation of women in various municipal structures. This however requires the political will to redress the unequal gender balance in local government and increase women's representation and active participation in decision-making structures and processes from ward to municipal levels. As of the 2006 Local Government elections, approximately 40% of all local government councillors are women. In Gauteng, newly elected women councillors comprise 41% (350) of the total number of councillors (844).
Local government is now at an important juncture where it can exercise leadership by sensitising all new councillors, both men and women to take leadership roles in increasing women's access to municipal services and in creating platforms for women's voice to be heard at ward committee meetings, Izimbizo, Integrated Development Planning (IDP) hearings and other public participation for a.

The recent Country Self Assessment Report which was done for the African Peer Review Mechanism noted that “A key challenge is ensuring that women participate equally in the South African economy. Women face higher levels of unemployment across the country and those who are employed on average receive lower incomes from work, fewer opportunities or training and promotions, and are concentrated in poorly-paying occupations, such as domestic work”. It is essential that we go beyond seeing the women of South Africa only as voters and taxpayers, they have enormous talent and potential that needs to be developed. The September 2005 Labour Force Survey noted that female unemployment rates (31,7%) are higher than male rates (22,6%) in every period and a similar pattern is evident in the absorption of females (34,1%) and males (49,3%) and labour force participation rates (female at 49,9% and male 63,7%).

In an era when we continually talk of accelerating skills shortages and the lack of capacity we must take the responsibility to break down the steel doors that prevent the entry of women as equals into the labour market, and we must break down the glass ceilings that inhibit their upward mobility within our political and administrative structures.

It is worth noting in this regard, that in order to address the issue of women empowerment, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) has committed itself to the introduction of a mandatory quota system to aid in the enhancement of women's participation in local government.

We acclaim some municipalities in Gauteng such as the Tshwane and Johannesburg metros which have sought to integrate gender analysis into their development plans and processes. They have also pushed for greater reforms in transforming the gender composition of their political and administrative structures by appointing nearly 50% of women in senior management positions and mayoral committees. There is a need to share such practices in all the municipalities in the province with a view to replicating them and building on what has been achieved thus far.

But it is not enough to leave it simply at the decision making levels. We must find new and innovative ways of engaging women individually and through their civil society representative structures. We must consult with them, we must pay close attention to the way in which they articulate their grievances and we must utilise their skills in improving our service delivery.

Essential to this project is strengthening local government and civil society partnerships. Civil society structures have a unique role to play in mobilising and organising women to participate in shaping their own development and in ensuring that local government services are attuned to their specific needs. Municipalities across our country need to provide resources and direction to these initiatives as women's active involvement in municipal affairs will heighten the impact of municipal services in addressing poverty and inequality and the marginalisation of women in the labour market and in the economy at large.

To date, the main achievements of gender programmes in municipalities appear to be defined by the number of successful campaigns during any given year. At a symbolic level this is very important. However they need to be complemented by concrete strategies for women's empowerment and gender development. We need to take a developmental and programmatic approach which seeks to mainstream gender within the local environment. In this way we will deepen the understanding of local government with regard to its role in empowering women in communities at large.

Research from around the world tells us that in general, employed women and women engaged in subsistence production spend more time on average than employed men on unpaid tasks. These tasks range from housework, caring for other household members, and community work. Were we to factor this into our gross domestic product (GDP) figures, the contribution women make to the economy would be much higher than it currently appears. So we need to find ways of alleviating the double burden of oppression faced by many women in our society.

We also need to take a close look at the extent to which our services are equitably delivered. A report by the Department of Housing indicates that 49% of all housing grants go to women. On the other hand, the most recent General Household Survey shows that female headed households overall have less access to running water than male headed households. Surely this cannot be acceptable? Surely we can find ways of dealing with this problem? This alone suggests that it is imperative to encourage active participation in local government procedures and decision making plans. Without their direct participation, women's access to basic services will not improve.

Unequal access to safe water is an indication of poverty, marginalisation and exclusion. Unequal access to safe water sources is a health risk, specifically to children, elderly and the sick. Again we know from research that women and children are the ones primarily responsible for fetching and drawing water when none is readily available in the dwelling itself. And we know that it is people who reside in informal settlements or dwellings who are most likely to have problems accessing safe water.

But how do we know that our Gender Empowerment Programmes are working? How do we hold managers and officials accountable for the realisation of our vision of creating a non-sexist South Africa in which the benefits of growth and prosperity are equitably shared by all? This is our challenge. And the answer has to be efficient and effective monitoring of key performance indicators which we develop in the five areas I spoke of earlier governance, administration, participation, employment and service delivery.

• Local government managers must be held accountable for their hiring and promotion policies and actions.
  
• Programme officers and policy administrators within departments must be called to account for any gender discrepancies in service delivery or access to goods and services.
  
• Political parties must be accountable for not committing to gender parity with respect to elected officials.
  
• Senior management must be held accountable for the violation of the rights of female employees, for the unequal treatment of female employees, for their lack of training and development opportunities and for their lack of advancement.

The key performance indicators therefore need to be developed that address a number of areas including the following:

• The degree to which gender inequalities in incomes, wealth, services etc are decreased and eliminated.
• The extent to which local governments involve women in areas which have typically been dominated by men and thereby promote the empowerment of women. These areas include engineering, environmental management, human settlement planning, information technology and financial services.
• Representation and the need to measure the pace at which we achieve gender parity in both elected and appointed positions.
• Measuring the active participation by women and their representative organisations in meaningful consultation processes. Active engagement and involvement are important indicators of political inclusion.
• Employment criteria related to hiring, promotion, termination, staff turnover, and gender based complaints.

These we suggest out of a genuine concern to improve the quality of life of the women of South Africa and because of our national commitment to halving poverty and unemployment by 2014.

In conclusion, local government structures need to ensure that women representation and participation in ward committees, IDP processes and other municipal programmes are not ad hoc, that they are structured and that they provide a basis for women inclusive planning and programme development. The numerical representation of women in local government structures is very important but equally important is providing space for the voices of women to be heard and ensuring that these voices and thinking around municipal policies and the allocation and prioritisation of municipal resources are heeded. In the year that marks the 50th Anniversary we must rededicate ourselves to empowering women to be active participants in all sectors of our society and economy.

Thank you.

Issued by The Presidency
24 August 2005

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