Keynote address delivered by the Minister of Basic Education, Mrs. Angie Motshekga, MP, at the Women of Mzanzi Open Mic, Pretoria
Programme Director,
Councillor: Ms R Morudu,
LC Foundation: Ms Kim Kotze,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
It is my singular honour and privilege to address this important gathering today, namely the Women of Mzanzi Open Mic.
Programme Director; we are pleased that 21 years into our democracy, the key aspirations of women, mothers, sisters and girl children have progressively been realised. We must admit that a lot has been achieved but much more needs to be done to completely eradicate the legacy of oppression of women in particular Black women.
Responding to this challenge the ruling party, the ANC in its 53rd National Conference held in Mangaung, 2012, resolved that whilst progress has been made in the development of women, there was a need for the establishment of a Ministry that focuses on women development.
The conference emphasised that there is still a need to effectively implement programmes and policies geared towards the development of women, in particular those that live in abject poverty, the disabled and the most vulnerable in society this includes access to opportunities and access to free basic services. It called upon all of us to continue to systematically fight patriarchy in society.
The conference further called for the increased access to economic opportunities for women, this includes targeted procurement from women companies, SMME’s and this includes transforming the economy to represents women demographics.
We can report here that yes indeed there is a dedicated Ministry for Women Affairs. Siyabonga! ANC led government.
According to the Human Science Research Council’s 2014 report entitled “Women leaders in the Workplace” a lot indeed has been achieved in the last 20 years. The report’s author Jane Rarieya says eloquently that the past 20 years of democracy in South Africa have seen significant strides being made to ensure that gender equality has become a societal reality.
Indeed, South Africa has received international recognition for these efforts and is currently ranked 16th in the world by the Global Gender Gap Index, a framework used by the World Economic Forum to capture the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities among countries in the areas of economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival; and political empowerment.
Just to put these achievements into perspective let us look at the 2012 – 2013 Commission for Equity Annual Report. It says women’s participation in top management grew by 6.1 percent between 2002 and 2012. And, women’s participation in senior management grew by 8.5 percent within the same period.
Some other notable achievements of the last 21 years include the appointments of Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chair of the African Commission; Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director and Under-Secretary General, UN Women; Ms. Geraldine Frazer-Moleketi, Special Gender Envoy to the African Development Bank; Judge Navi Pillay, former Chairperson to the UN Human Rights Commission, as well as Ms Yvonne Chaka Chaka, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador to mention but a few. This bears testimony to the gravitas of women leadership in the country.
The greatest achievement so far achievement is that our young democracy is ranked number 10 out 152 countries as having made huge strides in having women parliamentarians. We currently have 163 women parliamentarians out of 400 members of the National Assembly. This constitutes 40.8 percent.
In the national executive (cabinet) we have 20 men and 15 women Ministers as well as 20 men and 16 women deputy ministers.
Women Economic Empowerment
Programme Director; allow me to give a snapshot of available opportunities for women pioneered by the ANC-led Government. One of the pioneering initiatives is offered by the Department of Trade and Industry (Dti). It is known as B'avumile Skills Development Initiative.
The programme places emphasis on both skills development and the economic empowerment of women. B'avumile seeks to:
- Recruit women involved in the creative, clothing and textile industries, with skills in embroidery, sewing, weaving and beading;
- Provide specialist skills training and assist women to establish their own enterprises or co-operatives;
- In partnership with the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA), provide additional training in packaging, customer service, basic bookkeeping and registering a business; and
- Provide training sessions in municipalities. The training includes training on business skills.
- Each year a particular province is selected and women enterprises are identified to participate in the process. A selection process is undertaken with the panel of experts in the sector, provincial partners, including the provincial government departments and SEDA.
South African Women Entrepreneurs' Network (SAWEN)
The dti identified and adopted SAWEN to fast-track support provided to women in addressing challenges faced when establishing, strengthening and sustaining their enterprises.
SAWEN is a membership organisation with a mandate to represent and articulate the aspirations of all women entrepreneurs who operate within the South African SMME sector.
Support services under the banner of SAWEN programme include:
Effective network forums and maintaining a reliable database of South African women entrepreneurs.
- Training and capacity-building programmes
- The provision of pertinent business information and advice that leads to business opportunities
- Facilitating trade missions and exposure to global economy.
Technology for Women in Business (TWIB)
The third initiative is the Technology for Women in Business (TWIB). It was introduced to accelerate women's economic empowerment and the development of women-owned enterprises through the recognition of technology-based business applications and systems, and to unlock constraints to enterprise innovation and growth as well as global competitiveness.
The awards are part of the broader TWIB vision of linking women with relevant science and technology-driven business solutions that will improve their business creativity and potential, and reward those women who have used technology to grow their business.
The TWIB Awards are held every year. TWIB calls for nominations to be done through advertisements placed in national newspapers as well as on the dti website. The judging or selection process is handled by an independent panel of judges/adjudicators appointed by the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry. Prizes range from ICT business solutions to entrepreneurial support.
Techno Girls Programme
The mandate of TWIB extends to programmes that encourage girls to pursue careers in engineering, and science and technology by facilitating access to educational information, career opportunities, and academic and extra-mural learning programmes. And, this is called Techno Girls Programme.
The current theme of the programme is "A Girl Today, a Successful Entrepreneur Tomorrow". Through the campaign the dti aims to encourage young girls to contribute to the country's economic development and growth by becoming the creators of wealth and job opportunities.
The programme, which is conducted annually in different provinces, targets 10 schools from previously disadvantaged communities and 10 learners per school are selected to participate. A total of 100 learners per province participate. Each school comes up with an entrepreneurial idea, which is measured in term of credibility and feasibility, practicality, originality and durability.
Cell C is the partner in the programme. Nine provinces have participated in the programme since its inception. The winning schools receive computers and fax machines as well as gifts from Cell C such as cell phones, bags or T-shirts. The learners are given the opportunity to present at the Budget Vote day as well as a trip to the Annual Business Global Summit.
I thank you!
