Business women who are operating in the informal sector are still having challenges to access resources and funding in the running of their businesses. This was said by the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe at the two day Women Economic Empowerment Conference that started today in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
Thabethe said that women are facing these challenges even though South Africa has proven itself to be a pioneer in the emancipation of women on the global scale.
“It has been 18 years since the dawn of democracy and we have made significant strides in ensuring women access economic opportunities and the structural legacy of the past policies is eradicated. Women today own enterprises and are active participants in the economy. We have more women playing leadership roles across various sectors and making inroads in various fields of the economy. We salute these achievements as women constitute the majority of the population and play a key role in building communities,” said Thabethe.
She added that within the successes, there were still economic and social disparities that cannot be ignored.
“Women still faced various challenges and in some instances still struggle with entry to sectors and opportunities that were previously targeted at men. Economic conditions remain harsh for women. We still have many women operating in the informal sector where they struggle to access resources such as finance, infrastructure and ease of running businesses. More needs to be done to improve the conditions of the women in the informal sector to ensure that ultimately they grow their enterprises and gradually graduate to the formal sector. But more importantly, we need an economic development agency for women. A fully fledged structure for servicing the economic needs of women,” added Thabethe.
The conference is aimed at taking stock of the strides that have been made in ensuring the meaningful participation of women in the economy of KwaZulu-Natal and the country as a whole and to encourage women to participate in sectors that are mainly male-dominated. It is also aimed at creating a platform where women can exchange information with industry leaders, and most importantly, deal with challenges faced by women in economic participation.
KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Economic Development and Tourism, Mr Mike Mabuyakhulu said women should be able to achieve all that they aim to achieve in business, if they cannot then this conference should be charged with inventing platforms which to enable these women.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
