and
Constitutional Development, at the official launch of the South Africa Women
Lawyers Association, Johannesburg
31 August 2007
Programme Director,
Distinguished Guests,
Members of the Steering Committee for South African Women Lawyers Association
(SAWLA),
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is an honour for me to welcome all the delegates to this special event,
the official launch of the (SAWLA).
I am excited at what opportunity this organisation offers women in the legal
sector to make key connections between various activities and initiatives which
until now were disparate and uncoordinated. I am therefore humbled by the
wealth of experience and knowledge, drawn from a wide range of institutions,
that we have collected here under one roof.
This launch is timely as it comes at a time when we are concluding our
month-long celebrations of women and their progress in South Africa. During
these celebrations we have looked back at women who contributed to this
progress and to South Africa's road to democracy and the liberation we all
enjoy today.
Distinguished guests,
The 2005 progress report to the United Nations by South Africa clearly shows
that we have made notable progress with regard to women's emancipation. The
progress shows that women are generally more involved in governance, including
development planning. In fact with women's representation in the national
legislature over 30 percent and in the Executive at above 40 percent, the
country has within a short space of time since the advent of democracy,
significantly altered the gender profile of the highest political power
institutions in South Africa.
However, we cannot afford to sit on our laurels as the complete decline of
stereotypical attitudes towards women in many other sectors, such as the legal
profession in South Africa has been slow. We acknowledge that much still needs
to be done if we are to achieve the true emancipation of women from the
adversities they have endured, and many continue to face, because of their
gender, race and social status. Much still needs to be done by all of us and
especially organisations such as SAWLA to create enabling environments for
women lawyers that take into account the prolonged substantive equality and the
reality of women's positions in a patriarchal society. The stubborn and
lingering inequalities between men and women simply highlight how former male
dominated spheres continue to adopt new and covert strategies to resist change.
Like the icons of yester year, such as Charlotte Makgomo Maxeke, Madeline
Wookley, Shulamith Meer, Cissie, Gool and Viola Hashe today's women lawyers,
have enormous potential to make a difference in our society by standing up to
these new underhanded tactics, such as the manipulation of briefing patterns to
frustrate women lawyers.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Almost 84 years since women were first admitted as attorneys in South
Africa, women are still massively under-represented in positions of influence
in the legal sector. Women lawyers still find themselves hampered by ongoing
perceptions about their ability, values and even their social and business
astuteness. There is general consensus that, while the gender gap is narrowing,
structural and systemic gender inequality persists. We are determined and
working together we will break these mindsets of the past.
All of this is despite a pervasive affirmative action policy and substantial
equality legislation. Perhaps what we have been doing wrong in placing relevant
laws in place to safeguard the interests of women is that, we have ignored the
context within which such laws are embedded. The culture of the law or the way
people regard the law is a very important determinant in whether the livelihood
of women is improved or not. The attitudes and behaviour of all members of
society - from ordinary citizens to senior judges - are what makes the greatest
difference in the end, both about what the law say and how the system
works.
Programme Director
At the launch of SAWLA last year, I recall telling the many women legal
practitioners there that the biggest challenge is for SAWLA to make itself
relevant to the South African realities experienced by women on a daily
basis.
I believe that one of the factors that will determine the relevance of the
association will be sustained ability to make a difference in the lives of
ordinary people, particularly women. Making a difference means standing for
something bigger than yourself. This means that while the association should
work to capacitate and improve the lives of its members and other women in the
legal profession, it is important that its agenda includes making a difference
in the broader society. It is thus important for the association to design its
programmes with a view to consolidating the gains that the women justice and
democracy pioneers made. Accordingly, the association has to be an integral
part of the women's movement in our country.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am therefore very pleased to say that SAWLA has impressively risen to the
challenge as evidenced by the recent successful Access to Justice Week at the
beginning of Women's month. The Access to Justice Week and the efforts of the
women lawyers are about the empowerment of the poor, especially women. Many
women in this country, while aware of their constitutional rights, find it
difficult to assert these rights. It is well known that legal representation is
costly in this country and only the well off can afford the fees charged by
lawyers. Women lawyers have therefore decided to do their bit to contribute to
poverty alleviation by offering their services for free for the entire week
dealing with matters relating to maintenance, domestic violence, customary
marriages, divorce, inheritance, child custody and access, and many others that
are important to women. As a Department, Our cooperation with the legal
profession is in line with our policy of not only bringing facilities to the
people, but also of addressing the issues of access to justice.
Improving access to justice entails addressing issues relating to the cost
of litigation and the undue delays and excessive formalities within the legal
process. We are therefore grateful that women lawyers have found time to enter
into strategic partnerships like the one we launched throughout the country at
the beginning of Women's month.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are also fairly advanced in our efforts to develop a Transformation
Charter for the legal services sector. The Charter is meant to facilitate the
transformation of the legal profession to ensure greater access to justice for
all and to develop strategies for the creation of socio-economic opportunities
that will lead to a better life for all the citizens of this country.
In conclusion, we all agree that the visible barriers against women lawyers
have generally been eradicated. However, it is the not-so visible prevalence of
patriarchal attitudes in the legal profession which are closely correlated with
the high levels of disillusionment by women lawyers that we have to be vigilant
against.
Issued by: Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development
31 August 2007
Source: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (http://www.doj.gov.za)
