Programme director
Deputy Minister of Police, Maggy Sotyu
Conference Organisers and Fellow Speakers
Delegates
Colleagues and friends
The first opportunity I want to take is to thank the Intelligence Transfer Centre for organising the concept of the Annual Leadership Conference for Women in Law Enforcement.
I also want to specifically thank you for inviting me to speak at the forth edition of this conference and to express once again my sincere apologies that I have not been able to partake in the proceedings of the conference owing to other engagements within my portfolio.
Nevertheless I have been looking forward to receiving feedback on the deliberations and resolutions taken in this conference with regard to how we can support and enhance the contribution and work experience of women working in our law enforcement agencies.
As we are all aware, this conference is taking place at a time when our country’s criminal justice system and the law enforcement fraternity as a whole faces real challenges that are as a result of the changing nature of law enforcement within a democratic country.
We are meeting here at a time when there is public discourse on the issues of police killings on the one hand and the heavy handed approach to policing on the other. The country is also engaging seriously on the role of our military in providing assistance for peace keeping in other countries and the cost related to procuring of our military equipment.Clarity is also being sought by the public about whether, once rehabilitated should offenders who have committed serious and violent crimes be released for reintegration with society.
Despite having to deal with these challenges, we have a duty that because of its importance to the security and peace of our country, our work must go on.
After all, we do recognise the reality that the work that we do requires the tolerable balance of interests and expectations of society.
Programme director,
In 1996, when we adopted our current Constitution, we vowed as a people that we shall strive to build a society based on the rule of law. This commitment was the one that drew the distinction between our unjust past, and a future where all our people co-existed in under conditions of peace, freedom and safety.
We entrusted the responsibility of ensuring this principle of the Rule of Law, to women and men who will be part of our law enforcement agencies. Women and men who, despite the many opportunities that could have accrued to them personally under democracy, chose to serve and protect our people and our country. We entrusted this responsibility to you.
I am raising this in the beginning here so that as women, mostly mothers, we need to understand that the work that we do everyday makes a more than significant contribution in sustaining our democracy and ensuring that our country never again returns to the painful past from which our people have come.
Amongst all the jobs that are available in the public service, the work of law enforcement is amongst the least glamorous and by the most dangerous.At the same time, however, it must be done underlined by the deepest love for our country, the uncompromising quest for their safety and vicious detest for injustice.
It is for this that as we talk to you here today, we should thank you, on behalf of our government, our people and our country for enlisting as enforcers of our law and for the work that each one of you do everyday under the most trying of conditions.
Programme director,
As I address you today in my capacity as the Minister of Correctional Services, I found it interesting to that as part of preparation for this conference, we have learnt that women were first used in the criminal justice system in the 1800’s to deal with female prisoners and that therefore the first women in law enforcement were matrons in jails and prisons.
Given the history of our country, women were not seen as suitable for the hard requirements of other aspects of law enforcement except simply in the handling of other women who were in prison.
Although this situation has changed to a great extent, and women are part of the integral system law enforcement, there still remains serious challenges peculiar to women in the security environment.
Serving within the field of law enforcement is especially demanding on women, since criminals do not keep office hours and the demands set by the job within this field usually require a full time around the clock commitment from those who want to excel and advance.
In most cases, although there has been considerable change at policy level, the system still remains by and large, not designed to accommodate the specific needs of women in the workplace, including the basic provision of amenities for women.
However, overall, a combination of political changes and legal mandates have now helped pave the way for women to enter law enforcement, and ensured that any change in the sector will have to recognise the place and role of women.
In South Africa today, we have women represented within all levels of law enforcement, the police, prosecutors, Judges and Magistrates, Correctional Services, the Army as well as at Ministerial level.
The point however is that although this is a positive development, a lot more needs to be done to encourage women and to make them feel a part of many law enforcement agencies.
Many women who could join and do well within law enforcement are not doing so, in part due to the fact that there is not enough communication about the job, and where they have access to any information, it is limited to the negative and violent images that are portrayed in news segments and movies.
Women who join the system find the environment to be not supportive and without consideration of their circumstances, including their role as mothers and family bearers, while at the same time they are subjected to discrimination, sexual harassment, and intimidation by fellow colleagues. Without this supportive environment, women do not have a chance to progress within the system.
I am glad that this issue of recruitment and retention of women within the sector is a matter that received ample attention during your discussion of the past two days.
It is important that as a sector, those of us in law enforcement should direct a message that reaches out to women, a message which clearly says to them that they are needed, that they are welcome and that they are valued.That message can only be sent by the way we treat and empower those that are already in the system.
The absence of women input in the design of the system of law enforcement is another area of concern. Today we face a situation where many procedures and practices within the system have to be re-evaluated because they were established without taking into account the needs of women.
For instance, the manner in which we treat victims as well as offenders within the criminal justice system can be significantly enriched and enhanced by taking on board inputs from a female perspective.If you take Correctional Services as an example:
At the time of the adoption of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners in 1957 very few, if any, women provided an input into the drafting of this document.As a result the Rules focuses almost exclusively on the needs of male prisoners, a fact which has now been acknowledged and will be addressed through the adoption of the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial measures for Women Offenders.
Similarly, I am sure that we all can remember the role of women such as Judge Navi Pillay, who at the time when she served the then Judge President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), led the landmark decision for rape to be defined as an institutionalised weapon of war and a crime of genocide.
The unique characteristics and attributes that women can bring to all law enforcement agencies should be viewed in a positive light so as to enhance our efforts in the fight against crime. Society cannot continue to view the fight against crime as one where brute strength plays a role in keeping women out of leadership positions.
The problem solving and communication skills that women can bring to the table within the field of policing for instance could prevent situations from escalating into the use of excessive force. Women should not be viewed as the victims within the criminal justice system but as contributors both in the prevention and combating of crime.
Programme director,
I am also encouraged by the fact that this conference dedicated some time to discuss some of the issues facing women in law enforcement, such as how to deal with trauma and the stress that is associated with the work that we all do.
Recently when we attended the Summit on Alcohol and Substance Abuse, organised by the Department of Social Development, a major concern was raised about the abuse of substances amongst our law enforcement officers as a result of the stressful nature of the job they do. I want to appeal to Management that the issue of support for our officers, both women and men in the work environment should be prioritised.
It is not okay that those that who risk their lives to protect our country and make it a better place should destruct, lose their families, and seek refuge in substance abuse, when we have the means to support them.
Programme director,
I thought I should not sit down without making a specific reference to the plight of women law enforcers who are in the private sector, and to indicate that while many advances with regard to women empowerment are being made for women in the public sector, those in the private sector still faces unimaginable challenges. It is a matter that I am not sure if the conference has discussed, but which nevertheless should be highlighted.
Lastly allow me, to congratulate all of you for participating in this conference. I would also like to extend a special note of congratulations to those amongst us who will receive special awards n recognition of their contribution to the advancement of women in law enforcement.
The task we have is that of addressing the need and yearning of our people to be safe and to feel so. I know now looking at each one of you that this task is in good hands. Ka o bane mosadi o tshwara thipa ka bohaleng.
I thank you, greatly.
