Programme Director
President of the Business Women Association of South Africa, Basetsana Kumalo
And President Elect, Kunyalala Maphisa
Ingrid Johnson representing Nedbank as the sponsor of this project
Panellists who will be leading us in the discussions later today
Honoured guests
Ladies and gentlemen
The release of the Census 2010 comes at an opportune time for us in the Ministry for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities. We have just come back from a United Nations meeting to review the implementation of the Beijing Declaration. Beijing Declaration is a historic document adopted in 1995 and it addresses a number of issues affecting women including economic empowerment of women.
Overall the review reflected a mix of progress and challenges. There is significant progress in areas such as access to basic education for girls.
On political representation, South Africa is amongst the top six countries in the world where women hold more than 40% of parliamentary seats. The main area of concern globally remains the lack of progress in the economic empowerment of women. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) indicates that in developing countries like ours, women consistently lag behind men in formal labour force participation, earn less than men for similar work, and have less access to credit and lower inheritance and ownership rights than men do.
I am raising these issues because we need to understand the global nature of our struggle for gender equality. We have to ensure that women who are fighting to break the glass ceiling in the corporate world do not feel isolated. They have to understand that women of different economic status are fighting the same struggle with different immediate goals of course.
At this UN meeting, UNIFEM reported that women of South Africa carry out 74% of unpaid care work in their homes. Of course, this limit opportunities for women to participate in the labour force, engage in economic and other social activities. That is one of the reasons why only 45% of working South Africans are women despite the fact that women constitute 52% of the general population. This inequity worsens at decision making level, with women constituting 19% of executive managers and about 17% of directors in various boards. These figures might be an improvement from the situation we had in the past few years, but they are still disappointing.
I have noted your conclusions in the report Ms Maphisa that if we continue at the current rate, we will only achieve 50% gender parity on board representation in 2031 and such target will only be reached in year 2050 at executive management level.
I must say that women are patient, but their patience cannot be stretched that far. We have to speed up the pace of gender transformation in the same way we have emphasised racial equality.
I am glad that Jimmy Manyi is here so I can tell him that he has a partner in the Ministry for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities. The proposal to have strong penalties for failure to reach employment equity targets should be strongly supported. People with disabilities and women of our country demand that we become part of this struggle and there is no doubt that we will triumph. A penalty of 10% of the turnover should get every company moving on transformation.
We are developing a Gender Equality Bill which should enable SA to move towards 50/50 gender parity in all decision making positions and that bill will have mechanism for enforcement. We want to ensure that our country is inline with the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development as well as the position taken by the ANC on this matter.
I have an honour of serving in the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Advisory Council which is tasked to review progress and advise Government on further steps need to speed up transformation. Through this Council, we should ensure that BEE does become truly broad-based. We cannot just focus on ownership transfers to a few individuals. We need to make sure that more and more groups of ordinary women and persons with disabilities benefit from these deals.
We also have to ensure that other elements of Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) are implemented. In this regard, issues of control and employment equity become critical. Without more emphasis on preferential procurement and enterprise development, this policy will not achieve its primary goal which is to transform the overall landscape of our economy.
As a Minister responsible for vulnerable groups, I also have a particular interest on the social investment element of B-BBEE. We have to ensure that the required 1% of nett profit after tax is well spent in improving the lives of marginalised women, children and persons with disabilities. This investment should be focused on complementing Government’s effort to alleviate poverty and create development opportunities for vulnerable groups.
Programme director, women are engaged in a struggle against patriarchy at different levels. There are many who are struggling for basic survival, to find employment or an opportunity to engage in some form of economic activity. There are those at the shop-floor who are struggling for decent working conditions. And there are seeking to climb the corporate ladder, but are denied opportunities by the old boy network at the top. The Ministry for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities is committed to work with all of them in a common struggle for a non-sexist, non-racial and democratic society.
The Census we are receiving today helps us to understand the challenges faced by the latter group – women in leadership in the private sector and state-owned enterprises. It is a valuable resource in measuring the some progress made. We should acknowledge some developments such as the appointment of the first woman Governor of the Reserve Bank and woman CEO of South African Airway. We have to lobby for more women to occupy these important positions.
The findings of the Census certainly justify the need for more action to be taken to speed up gender transformation. The Census also provides us with a valuable data to deal with those who seek to shift public discourse against the process of gender and racial transformation that has been put in place to equalise opportunities for all in our society.
I would therefore like to thank Business Women’s Association and its partners for sharing with us the 7th South African Women in Leadership Census. Your work serves as a valuable tool for all of us involved in the struggle for gender equality in our country.
Thank you
Source: Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities
