Mlambo-Ngcuka, at the launch of Black Business Women Association (BBWA), Moyo's
Spier Wine Estate, Stellenbosch
28 September 2006
Minister of Minerals and Energy, Buyelwa Sonjica,
Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Lulu Xingwana,
Premier of the Western Cape, Ebrahim Rasool,
Deputy Minister of Social Development, Jean Benjamin,
Deputy Minister of Health, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge,
MEC for Economic Development and Planning, Tasneem Essop,
Local Government and Housing, Richard Dyantyi,
Chairperson of BBWA, Hilda Ndude,
Distinguished guests,
Leadership of Black Business Women Association,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to be standing here tonight, invited to
participate in the launch of the Black Business Women Association in the
Western Cape. There could not have been a better province to launch an
initiative of this nature for various reasons.
The Western Cape has a bright outlook in terms of various economic
development opportunities but black businesswomen in the Western Cape remain on
the periphery of the economy. Their economic activities are largely
concentrated in the areas of crafts, hawking, personal services and working in
the retail sector. They form the bulk of people in the second economy, and are
still outside the first economy.
This scenario needs to change as soon as possible. The creation of an
enabling environment, therefore, coupled with a structured body that will be a
voice for black businesswomen is of critical importance and an urgent matter if
black businesswomen are to benefit as an equally important community in the
Western Cape economy. I, therefore, applaud the Black Business Women
Association (BBWA) for this launch and forward-looking initiative.
The fight that the women marchers of 1956 embarked on is in many ways still
relevant to the situation today. Those women were not only fighting for
political emancipation but economic emancipation as well. This is the fight
that you are engaged in now.
As you do this an added responsibility rests on the shoulders of those black
women who succeed in the business. These women have to continue to be the light
as they climb. They have to be mentors and assist other women who are
interested in following this business route.
However, for this to be a success, the current situation needs to
drastically improve.
*Gender make up of South African women
*Women in the South African economy
*(I) Education by gender:
*Women in South Africa
No schooling
1996 � 25,35 percent
2001 � 11,93 percent
Some primary
1996 - 40,65 percent
2001 - 51,65 percent
Complete Primary
1996 - 7,9 percent
2001 - 8,11 percent
Some Secondary
1996 - 23,36 percent
2001 - 24,77 percent
Standard 10
1996 - 2,57 percent
2001 - 3,25 percent
Higher
1996 � 0,1 percent
2001 - 0,28 percent
*(II) Women unemployment from 1996 - September 2005
African - 37,1 percent
Coloured - 24,6 percent
Indian - 18,6 percent
Whites - 6,9 percent
Average women employment is 31,7 percent
*(III) Earnings by women
* Unskilled women only � 87 percent of male counterparts
* Semi skilled - 106,4 percent
* Skilled - 82,8 percent
* Highly skilled - 73,8 percent
* Managers - 80,3 percent
Furthermore, disabled persons make up five percent of the South African
population. Clearly disabled women have an additional burden.
The decrease in representivity of executive managers from 19,8 percent in
2005 to 16,8 percent in 2006 is a worrying factor.
Particularly, because the numbers indicate that there has been a significant
increase in the number of executive manager positions (from 5 558 in 2005 to 7
890 in 2006). This implies that there were opportunities to hire female
candidates but the appointments shifted the pendulum away from the desired
goals of gender equity. Even the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) which generally
do well on the improvement of representivity made more appointments of male
executive managers than female.
The SOEs increased their executive management positions from 99 in 2005 to
149 in 2006. From the 50 new appointments only 10 were women.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) / Securities Exchange (JSE) companies
moved from 1 102 female executive managers in 2005 to 1 323 female executive
managers in 2006, however, more men were appointed to executive management
positions than women in that period. This indicates that there is still a
culture of prioritising men for leadership positions and that unless criteria
and selection processes are monitored it will be difficult to maintain the
momentum of improvement. While women make up 52 percent of the adult population
in South Africa and only 41 percent of the working South African population,
they constitute only 16,8 percent of all executive managers and only 11,5
percent of all directors in the country and only 6,4 percent of chief executive
officers and chairs of boards are women.
All of this does not take away our advances in women development and support
but it is to ring alarm bells on the challenges we still have to make.
What is to be done? What will our legacy be?
How do we deal with the pyramid and the women masses at the bottom of that
pyramid? How can we change the pyramid into a diamond shape? How can we place
women in a much better position in society?
On 9 August 1956 thousands of women from all walks of life, all racial
groups, even those who were not required to carry a pass marched to the Union
Building in Pretoria. Women took part in the national liberation struggle in
the struggle for peace and democracy in our country. This is what women are
about, solidarity, working together, unity in action.
The Progressive Women's Movement in its submission to the Head of State
noted some of the advances towards women's empowerment and gender equality -
especially in the form of women's rights as guaranteed in the South African
Constitution as well as other national legislation and women's participation in
political and decision making positions - however they pointed out that many
challenges remain ... in their declaration they say that patriarchy still
remains dominant and is so wide spread within our society it is accepted as
"normal" and enforced through all our institutions. They also articulate many
challenges, which women continue to face even within this democracy.
They express a concern that "many women particularly working class, rural,
farm and poor women have not yet tasted the fruits of our liberation. Many of
them have not yet accessed basic serves such as sanitation, clean water, land,
electricity, basic literacy, social security, etc". Their words echoed the
declaration of the women who marched in 1956, "We shall not rest until and we
have won for all our sisters the right to the enjoyment of democracy, equality,
peace and development". This is what the Progressive Women's Movement told us
on the occasion of their launch and during the proceedings at the national
celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Women's March to the Union
Buildings.
Equality and equity are the cornerstones of our democracy that is why we
introduced the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) legislation which
I always say "is a piece of legislation to which we are all married to and to
which will remain married".
*Business opportunities
Black businesswomen have still not fully benefited from the Black Economic
Empowerment (BEE) process especially in the Western Cape. The Western Cape and
KwaZulu-Natal have traditionally been strong on clothing manufacturing.
Women in these two provinces now have an opportunity to revive this
garments-manufacturing industry with the agreement that we have now struck with
the Chinese to reduce the quota of Chinese imports. This is your lifetime
opportunity. Get in touch with the relevant union in this industry and ensure
that you get this going once again.
Another viable business idea for the Western Cape is Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO). This is an opportunity for women here to start their own BPO
companies and partner with Indian or Chinese companies in delivering this
essential service. You may have to learn Chinese in the process but if you do
that you will already have a great competitive edge over a lot of people.
Women also have an opportunity to enter the hospitality industry especially
with 2010 just around the corner. The Western Cape being one of the most
beautiful provinces has huge room for the inclusion of black women in
particular, in the provision of goods and services. We have already sent a
number of women to gain these skills internationally.
Looking at the programme of the conference, you all had today and I'm quite
pleased that you have taken stock of the progress made in terms of women
economic empowerment in various sectors. I want to believe that you have
interrogated the outcomes thoroughly. Although I was not part of your
deliberations, I'm sure there is still a lot that needs to be done.
Empowering women and in particular black women is an economic necessity.
They are still the primary caregivers of children and the elders. We know that
by empowering women, government is including the whole family in economic
upliftment, resulting in an automatic multiple affect hence the saying, "You
liberate a man, you liberate an individual, you liberate a woman you liberate a
nation", is still crucial today.
*Government initiatives to empower women
I wish to share with you some of the efforts that government has embarked on
that assist women towards economic emancipation.
A. The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) has published the
directory of women-owned businesses to enable companies and government to
procure from women-owned companies. This is surely an effort that can be
massified.
B. The dti has financed two studies which indicate the place of women in
society. They concluded that women-owned businesses are mostly informal and
survivalist, which then points to a policy direction of investing in
instruments to develop and grow women businesses.
C. The other study financed by dti and women business associations concluded
that women were still underrepresented in corporates, both as directors and
managers. The Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) response
is the placement of women locally and internationally for work experience and
for confidence building. We have already placed women in economies like India,
United Arab Emirates (UAE), Germany and the United Kingdom (UK).
D. Government has recently launched a co-operative initiative called Jobs
for Growth which aims at mobilising women enterprises at grassroots level and
linking them to the mainstream economy.
I thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
28 September 2006
Source: SAPA
