We are privileged to receive a delegation of the High Level Regional Task Force for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV for Eastern and Southern Africa Mission to South Africa. I am personally honoured to be able to welcome such an eminent group of leaders and experts to our country.
As you are aware, our country signed the Accelerated Agenda for Women and Girls on HIV and Aids in 2010 on behalf of South Africa. The time for a mid-term review has arrived. This group of eminent men and women has come to the country to assess the extent to which we have been able to discharge our responsibilities. They will visit various parts of the country and engage with key people and organisations as part of the review process.
I am confident that arising from the interactions of the next few days, we will be able to collectively confront the challenges of gender inequality and the scourge of HIV and Aids in an effective and sustainable manner. Together, we must bring our collective wisdom to bear on the pressing problems that stare our entire continent in the face. We must do this as part of our commitment to stem the tide of HIV and Aids in the context of promoting gender equality and women empowerment. Accordingly, as a country, we subject ourselves to this process.
We are certain that we will benefit from a critical and objective review which will enable us to identify weakness, gaps and opportunities that we can seize in order to promote our interventions. We see this as part of the peer review process that enhances a productive cross-pollination of perspectives and experiences.
Our collective conscience as a nation must refuse to accept that women and children of our land must continue to perish from preventable diseases as a result of our collective failure to place gender equality and women empowerment at the centre of our policies. There is consensus that South Africa has some of the most progressive policies that are aimed at advancing women empowerment and gender equality. However, the challenge remains the actual translation of these policies and legislative frameworks into implementation.
As a department, we believe that transforming and redressing existing gender inequalities is a prerequisite to address the health needs of women and girls. We will never be able to effectively improve health outcomes for vulnerable sectors of society for as long as women still bear a disproportionate burden of the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. Unless we address these fundamental challenges, a life of disease and death from preventable diseases will remain the harsh reality for the majority of the women in our country.
The women of our country are encouraged by Cabinet approval of the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill for public consultation. It will be a powerful instrument to monitor all legislations and programmes that address inequalities, discriminations against women, violence against women, access to services and economic empowerment. We are convinced that promoting women empowerment and gender equality will help improve health outcomes for women and girls.
As a country, we have made commitments through the Constitution, various pieces of legislation and international conventions to respect, promote, protect and advance the rights of women. We have a duty and obligation to honour these commitments and to give concrete expression to our Constitutional obligations. We must have the will and be relentless in posing difficult and uncomfortable questions about the manner in which government programmes respond to the challenges of women’s and girl’s health. This will help to improve the quality and pace of delivery.
Indeed, as a country, we are making progress in addressing the primary health care needs of women and girls as reflected in the decline of child and maternal mortality as well as mother-to-child transmission of HIV rates. We are encouraged by these developments, but believe that more still needs to be done. We must applaud the current Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, under whose stewardship we are witnessing progress on many health indicators that relate to women and children. Our collective challenge is to sustain this momentum.
We are painfully aware that financial dependency on husbands, fathers, partners and family members has increased women’s vulnerability to domestic violence, rape, incest, abuse and Aids. We remain convinced that empowering women will help us improve the health conditions of the majority of women and their families.
It is also our firm view that government and its social partners must intensify programmes aimed at reducing the impact of poverty and social inequality on children. Millions of children are bearing the consequences of these inequalities, as they are excluded from social and economic opportunities. A life of poverty for many children tends to lead to the “sugar daddy” syndrome which is one of the drivers of HIV and Aids among young girls.
Enquiries:
Cornelius Monama
Tel: 012 359 0224
Fax: 086 544 0931\ 086 765 9980
Cell: 082 578 4063
E-mail: Cornelius@dwcpd.gov.za \ cmonama@gmail.com
BBM: 27C5DAD4
Statement by Minister Lulu Xingwana at the occasion of the media briefing regarding the visit by the High Level Regional Task Force for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV for Eastern and Southern Africa Mission to South Africa, Cape Town
