The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) expresses its concern at government departments’ ongoing failure to address transformation with regard to gender and disability, despite clear constitutional and legislative provisions in this regard. The state target for women’s representation at senior management levels is 50%, and employment of persons with disabilities is 2%, yet departments are not achieving these targets. In addition, the Department of Public Service and Administration reported at our hearing that departments are generally failing to report adequately on employment equity, and concerns were raised at the lack of accountability and consequences in this regard.
Of further concern, it would appear as if issues relating to gender equality, employment equity and gender mainstreaming are categorised as human resource and corporate services issues, as opposed to the way in which departments conceptualise gender equality, particularly at service delivery level, and how policy and planning are informed in this regard. In addition, many departments coincided gender and disability sets of issues, not recognising that there are particular issues and required responses relating to each of these, which require individual attention. The location and appointment of gender focal persons continues to plague departments, in that policy requirements of appointments in this regard to be made at director level, are in the main not being implemented, impacting on the impact of these portfolios.
As a result, it is further apparent that the state has failed to ensure the conceptualising and implementation of gender mainstreaming. This requires the mainstreaming of gender in planning, policy-making and budgeting. Research findings reveal that understanding and knowledge in relation to gender mainstreaming is not apparent in government departments. Furthermore, the DPSA reports that departments are failing to report adequately on gender mainstreaming, and that such reports are not signed off by DGs. PSC findings also reveal a pervasive conservative attitude at senior management levels to issues of gender equality.
The hearing acknowledged issues of scarce skills in technical and science sectors, as well as the significant interventions made by some departments to increase this pool, through bursaries, coaching and leadership development. The hearing noted that this could be strengthened through the creation of internships, and that gender expertise should be recognised as a scarce skill and appointments made in this regard, to ensure the engendering of departmental planning.
Having said this, we are encouraged at interventions by some departments with regard to executive training for women, the development of employment equity targets and their integration in strategic plans. There are also welcome indications of the monitoring of such interventions, the allocation of responsibility for transformation and inclusion in performance evaluation, and awareness-raising within the workplace. Sexual harassment in the workplace continues to be neglected, in that despite the existence of sexual harassment policies, departments regularly reported that no cases had been reported.
The CGE notes that this is not an indication that sexual harassment in the workplace is not taking place, but rather that policies are not adequately publicised, or that employees do not have confidence in relevant processes and structures, or face intimidation and peer pressure in taking up cases.
With regard to the private sector, it became apparent that this sector is no closer to attaining equality targets. On average, companies presented figures approximating 12% women’s representation in senior and top management. This was typically the case in the mining and industry sectors, which are traditionally male-dominated. All companies did have EE plans and programmes in place, and are submitting EE reports, but in the main, they have not developed and implemented formal gender equity interventions. It became apparent that in the main, companies are flagrantly not complying with the requirements of the Employment Equity Act, in that affirmative measures in relation to necessary policies, recruitment, training and promotion have not been put in place.
The hearing noted the following recommendations in response to these issues:
- The need for gender and disability measures to be factored into Black Economic Empowerment rating and company score cards, to compel companies to take these additional components of employment equity seriously.
- The CGE supports recommendations from the Employment Equity Commission to implement a name and shame campaign and increase penalties, and calls for an expansion of the DG review process to closely monitor – and support – companies in their transformation processes
- The need for transformation in industry cultures, particularly in traditionally male-dominated industries, where women are more prevalent in support functions, and not key engineering posts, for example. This requires an aggressive education and support campaign, supplemented by learnerships, bursaries and internships.
- Employment equity compliance by government departments needs to be enforced, and accountability for reporting and transformation clearly established. The Department of Labour should consider penalising those departments guilty of non-compliance, and fining them.
Contact persons:
Javu Baloyi
Cell: 083 579 3306
