The Commission for Gender Equality hosted a consultative dialogue on 6 September 2010 in Pretoria, to present its preliminary findings of a gendered review of the state's implementation of its millennium development goals obligations.
This review forms part of the CGE's legal mandate to monitor the state's compliance with international and regional conventions acceded to, which have a bearing on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The dialogue was attended by the statistician-general for Statistics South Africa, who presented on the process of formulating and key findings of the MDG country report for South Africa.
Participants further included senior representatives from Statistics South Africa, relevant government departments and sectoral experts from civil society.
Participants were tasked with engaging with the CGE on its findings and recommendations, identifying additional gaps and challenges witnessed in addressing gendered issues of concern, and developing specific policy recommendations to address these.
Key findings and recommendations flowing from the CGE report, as amplified by participants' inputs, were that as a starting point, South Africa should review our macro-economic policies to ensure these are gender responsive, and accelerate infrastructure development in rural areas, as this would have a huge positive impact on women.
There is a need for better, more reliable data capture, accurately classified and disaggregated on the basis of sex, and government departments need to tailor their responses in terms of programmes and budgets to respond to the disparities in vulnerability, needs and access of women.
Government departments need to strengthen monitoring and evaluation interventions, with particular engendered indicators, to assess implementation and determine the impact of policies and programmes designed to address gender inequality and women's empowerment.
We need to see more funds allocated within departmental budgets for the necessary resources, training and awareness for effective implementation. We need to address the skills and attitudes of state employees tasked with ensuring access to services and justices; these entrench discrimination against women and poor access to services, and ensure that real opportunities are created for women to participate in policy and decision making processes.
There is a need to considerably improve the performance of the state in coordination and allocation of responsibilities between the spheres of government, regarding the implementation of the MDGs.
South Africa needs to address the rural-urban disparity as a matter of urgency. This is a key factor in the access to necessary services impacting on women's quality of life. In addition, we need to see more outreach and awareness programmes for men, from behaviour changing interventions, to bringing men into the care net.
Finally, participants stated the clear need to introduce a compulsory quota system in our electoral legislation to bring about 50/50 targets. We need enforcement of legislative measures to address discrimination in the workplace, as well as the particular vulnerabilities of farm and domestic workers.
The CGE's intention is to advocate for improved policy formulation, budgeting and programme implementation in addressing specific gaps and challenges highlighted in this report, impacting on the quality of life of women and girl children in South Africa.
The CGE will be tabling its final report before Parliament shortly, and thereafter at the United Nations Summit and parallel events in late September 2010, tasked with reviewing country progress in attaining MDGs by the targeted date of 2015.
The millennium declaration identified peace, security and development, including environment, human rights and governance, as key global development challenges.
The declaration resolved to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as an effective way to combat poverty, hunger and disease, and stimulate sustainable development.
The CGE acknowledges the commitments, policy and targeted programmes developed towards achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.
However, unless we ensure that implementation of all the MDGs speak to the particular vulnerabilities and needs of women and girl children; we will not see a full realisation of these goals.
Contact person:
Javu Baloyi
Tel: 083 579 3306
Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) dialogue on the millennium development goals (MDG): Gender Equality and Women Empowerment
