Opening remarks of the Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Ms Susan Shabangu, MP, on the occassion of the Gala Dinner celebrating African Women, Sandton ICC
Your Excellency, Chairperson of the AU Commission, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma;
Excellencies, AU Ministers responsible for Gender and Women's Affairs;
Excellencies, Ministers and Deputy Ministers of the Republic of South Africa;
AU Commissioners;
Excellencies, Members of the AU Permanent Representative Committee;
Representatives of the Diplomatic corps and international Organisations;
Distinguished guest;
Ladies and gentlemen
The hosting of the 2nd AU High Level Panel on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment together with the meeting of the AU Ministers responsible for Gender and Women's Affairs has been an honour and privilege for the Government and the people of South Africa. These two prestigious engagements could not have come at a more appropriate time as the AU convenes the 25th Summit of Heads of States.
It is indeed my pleasure to extend a warm welcome to you to this Gala Dinner in celebration of African Women, during their Decade and above all during the year of their empowerment and development.
African women have gone a long way in the struggle for recognition, promotion, protection and realisation their rights. We are encouraged that the AU has consistently put women at the heart of the developmental agenda of our continent through, among others, the African Women's Decade (2010 - 2020), the Africa Agenda 2063 and the declaration of 2015 as the Year of Women's Empowerment and Development towards Africa's Agenda 2063.
AU has also taken a decision that by 2020 all African countries must have achieved parity in women representation in decision making and participation in the economy. This decision will go a long way in challenging patriarchy in Africa and ensuring the destruction of the economic and political glass ceiling that restricts women's progress. As long as women are not fully incorporated into the development strategies and decisionmaking processes of their countries as active and equal participants, their countries will be operating at half capacity.
We move from a premise that empowerment of women to participate fully in economic life and development across all sectors is essential to building stronger economies that create jobs and improves lives of ordinary people. The burden of poverty borne by African Women as a result of lack of income and economic opportunities signifies a phenomenon in our continent where women represent a disproportionate percentage of the poor due to gender prejudices and marginalisation.
The economic empowerment of women is a prerequisite of reducing poverty in our Continent and dismantling patriarchy. Therefore radical economic transformation without the full inclusion and empowerment of women is unsustainable.
The struggle for the emancipation of women remains urgent and faces immense odds. According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) report on Africa's achievements of Millennium Development Goals, women produce more than 80°/o of the continent's food but own roughly 1°/o of productive land. We are of a view that if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 30°/o thereby contribute immensely to Africa's economic growth and development and food security of our continent.
The theme of the AU HLP on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment: “Make it Happen Through the Financial Inclusion of Women in the Agribusiness Sector" highlights the importance of women's financial inclusion as a prerequisite for economic growth and development.
The work that we have done during the past few days as Ministers and delegates to the HLP confirm our conviction that if we act together with determination, we will no doubt succeed in our quest for gender equality and women's empowerment.
Our call for the hand-held hoe, the grinding stone and the machete to be progressively relegated to the agricultural museums can only be achieved if governments, civil society and business join hands in the pursuit of more technologically advanced and innovative instruments and methods in agriculture and food security. There is an IIndian proverb that says:
"We the bananas must stick together and stay in the basket, if you fall out, you will be peeled." It is so true, we need to stick together in order to achieve our purpose.
The outcome of our discussions is a "Call to Action" for the continent to help drive the financial support to women particularly in the agricultural sector for their development, empowerment and contribution to the economic growth of the continent. Together we can achieve this because we are a force to be reckoned with. Women have been acknowledged for changing the development agenda across the world.
We are concerned that the levels of funding to women in our continent are far from adequate. Our view is that access to funding is critical for empowerment of women in the economy - It is a fact that the current criteria, institutions and processes of funding in the continent are not friendly for women to be able to shape, participate and contribute to the economy. They contribute to the marginalisation of women intentionally and unintentionally in some instances. They do not change the ownership patterns in society. They do not change participation at all levels including the boardroom.
The vexing question is what percentage of the overall funding of each financial institution has benefitted women? We need to hold financial institutions accountable for the lack of disaggregated data on the basis of gender, race and other disadvantaging factors.
We want women to be included in the broader funding and not to be relegated to small or insignificant funds whilst financial institutions are not held accountable on their obligation to ensure women's financial inclusion in the financial mainstream. We cannot continue to limit women's economic participation to small and informal business. The time is now for women to be fully integrated into the economic mainstream and financial inclusion is at the epicenter of this noble goal.
The empowerment of women is not an act of charity, or the result of humanitarian or compassionate attitude. The empowerment of women is a fundamental necessity of development, the guarantee of its continuity and the precondition of its victory.
Programme Director, we must ensure that the upcoming 25th AU Summit of Heads of States puts the issues of gender equality and women's empowerment at the center of its work. The progress that Africa will make against poverty, underdevelopment and marginalisation can only be measured by the steps it takes to ensure advancement and prosperity of women.
Africa should once again lead in driving movements for change and solidarity - this time for women's empowerment and gender equality. We cannot afford to leave the aspirations of the millions of our women as contained in the Beijing Platform for Action, Millennium Development Goals and Africa Agenda 2063 go unrealised. The time is now for Africa to achieve gender parity. In the words of Annie Louisa Walker in her poem titled "Women's Rights":
"You cannot rob us of the rights we cherish,
or turn our thought away
From the bright picture of a 'Woman's Mission"
our hearts portray..."
The vision of the AU through the Africa Agenda 2063 of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, an Africa driven and managed by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena will be judged by its commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment.
Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, please relax and enjoy this beautiful evening with us bracketed by the distinctive and hospitable city of Johannesburg!
I thank you!
