As South Africa celebrates women’s day tomorrow, the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) saw it befitting to do a reflection on the challenges that remain a hindrance in attaining gender equality. The Gender Commission in its quest to ascertain the challenges that remain a stumbling block in the attainment of gender equality has embarked in numerous projects and studies. A year 20-year review was commissioned to the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) to look at the progress made on gender equality since the establishment of CGE in 1996. Amongst the projects and studies that the Gender Commission has conducted include: Gender Transformation at the Institutions of Higher Learning, Gender Transformation in the Private and Public Sector, the African Gender Development Index (AGDI) study, Policy Dialogues with various Policy Makers both in the Public and Private Sector. This is in addition to the large scale outreach and legal clinics that the Legal and Public and Education Information Departments conduct to raise awareness, monitor and evaluate the extent of gender transformation in the country.
These studies were informed by the Gender Commission’s mandate and to measure South Africa’s compliance with international and reginal instruments in regard to gender equality. The AGDI study notes that more girls finish school and enter institutions of higher learning. However, when examining employment statistics, we see that more men are in wage paying jobs, in high paying jobs and in managerial or decision-making positions more so that women. This is as a result of the deeply entrenched patriarchal system that benefits to men and the process resulting in gender pay wage gap. As a result, patriarchy and its tendency to privilege men makes a mockery of the strides made to reach gender equality as women continue to be unequally positioned in the workplace.
Women still bear the brunt of gender-based violence and other related to atrocities. This is not limited to domestic violence but also sexual harassment both at home and workplaces. Women are unable to walk freely for fear of all sorts of harassment and abuses. According to statistics released by the South African Police Service for 2016/17 gender based violence figures are still alarmingly high. The Gender Commission has realized that the absence of a national coordinating structure on gender-based violence has a ripple effect on the work that seeks to address the scourge.
These studies have discovered that on reflection, South Africa should be commended on its attempt to acknowledge women’s equality in its policies and legislative framework. The lack of change thereof is a result of the misalignment between legislative priorities and implementation. South Africa needs to do more work to making these policies a reality for women.
The Gender Commission has through its gender transformation at the institutions of higher learning discovered that there were no policies that were geared into addressing lack of women empowerment and sexual harassment which were on the increase. If there was a policy on sexual harassment that policy did not talk to the implementation part. It is for that reason that we began to work with institutions of higher learning to assist them in drafting empowerment policies and sexual harassment policies. Ever since the Commission started monitoring and evaluating these aspects, there is a reduction in gender based violence cases. We have also noted women being appointed to senior leadership positions at it is with Nelson Mandela University, WITS and UCT recently.
South Africa is also affected by traditional harmful practices such as underage/forced marriages, genital mutilation and virginity testing. Though there are necessary legislation including the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the laws are not applied effectively and therefore ignored at times. There also a need to review legislation such as Children’s Act, Sexual Offences Act, the Domestic Violence Act and other related statutes to assess the effectiveness of implementation and factors undermining implementation.
The Gender Commission is of the view that collaboration between State, Chapter Nine Institutions, Civil Society Organisations on activities and projects that seek to eradicate the scourge of gender based violence and total women empowerment can see the challenges that remain an impediment in gender equality addressed. For provision of effective and efficient services to advance society free from gender oppression and all forms of inequality, government should also consider providing adequate resources to institutions mandated to promote and protect gender equality.
The CGE is a constitutional entity, relied upon to ‘strengthen constitutional democracy’. The Constitution of South Africa, in creating a framework for a new society, has established a Bill of Rights in Chapter 2 of its first constitution of 1996. This is premised on the desire for a free and equal society in all fundamental and material aspects of life.
Values and Ethics Accountability: Honesty, transparency and efficiency through effective use of available resources and time. Equality: Commitment to the principles that promote substantive equality. Democratic principles: Commitment to justice and fairness. Integrity: Loyalty and respect for the dignity of all. Commitment to the principles of the Constitution. Belief in oneself and others. Professionalism: Communicate, behave and execute duties in a manner that efficiently and effectively fulfils the mandate and plan of action, and enhances the positive image of the CGE. Empathy: Awareness of power relations and respect for human rights. The CGE conducts its relationships in an understanding, caring, supportive and non-judgmental manner. Knowledge sharing: a spirit of reciprocity and mutual development and growth. Identity: Acknowledgement of the individual and of cultural diversity of our society.
Gender Equality and Women Empowerment Brief Description
Gender equality and women’s empowerment are cross-cutting themes within the CO programmes. The promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women is central to the mandate of UNDP and intrinsic to its development approach. Accordingly, the Gender Unitprovides technical support to the Department of Women, other related Departments and Civil Society, to ensure that gender equality and women empowerment are mainstreamed into policies, legislation and programmes at all levels.The unit also ensures that gender is mainstreamed into the 4 core areas of the CO programmes: Inclusive Growth, Climate Change and Greening South Africa’s Economy, Service Delivery and Democratic Governance and South Africa’s Regional and Global Role, and also in Operations. Substantively, the gender unit, in collaboration with the Inclusive growth Portfolio, is providing technicalsupport to all relevant departments on increasing access and diversity in fundingto women owned SMMEs. The unit is also spearheading a project on Women in the Judiciary, whose aim is to build the capacity of the South African Chapter of the International of Association of Women judges (SA-IAWJ) to promote gender equality, human rights and justice within the judiciary and in the wider society. Finally, the gender unit, together with the CO Gender Focal Team (GTF), is leading the process of the Gender Seal Certification for 2017/2018.
Project Rationale Twenty years into democracy, South Africa has made great strides in reforming laws and policies that prohibited women’s full participation in all social, economic and political spheres. These range from the development of a constitution which articulates equality for all persons to the establishment of Chapter Nine institutions which serve to guard against historical injustices and promote human rights for all in the country. The Constitution enshrines the right to equality, equal protection and benefit before the law, and to non-discrimination. South Africa is also signatory to a number of international conventions, declarations, regional charters and protocols which aim to address inequalities and ultimately achieve gender equality, and which the state is obliged to implement. Notwithstanding the plethora of legislation women have not advanced as rapidly in terms of socio economic empowerment and gender equality andthe National Development Plan (NDP, 2030), identifies women as the most affected by inequality, poverty and unemployment. In 2014, a new Department for Women (DOW) was established with a mandate for advancing the socio- of women and the promotion of gender equality through oversight, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation. In 2015, the DOW finalized its strategic plan, and needs support from all players for its implementation. The promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women is central to the mandate of UNDP and intrinsic to its development approach. It is therefore imperative for UNDP to support the government’s agenda on gender equality and women’s empowerment
UNDP in South AfricaUNDP is the UN’s global development network whose focus is to help countries build and share solutions to the challenges of sustainable human development to reduce poverty and inequalities and render institutions more effective and accountable. The key focus of engagement are national priorities, national ownership and the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The overarching goal of the strategic partnership between the Government of South Africa and UNDP is to advance South Africa’s strategic priorities to work for a thriving and more resilient South Africa. To achieve this, UNDP occupies itself with unlocking much needed technical assistance and finances required by the country. Linking the global agenda to national development priorities as outlined in the National Development Plan to ensure that all resources invested yield outcomes which translate to better lives for people. UNDP’s work in South Africa is firmly anchored upon the UN’s Strategic Corporation Framework 2013 – 2017 (now extended to 31 March 2019) and responds to the issues outlined on the National Development Plan. Our work is guided by the Country Programme Document (CPD). The country programme seeks to contribute to South Africa’s social and economic transformational aspirations through support to policy innovations and movement from policy to implementation. It brings knowledge of global best practices to South Africa and helps to share South Africa’s best practices with the world. To this end, anchored on evidence-based research and other knowledge products such as the Human Development Reports, UNDP engages the Government on development related and policies dialogues affecting the lives of the people. The UNDP programmes in South Africa are centered around four key priority areas. Gender equality, rights and HIV are treated as cross-cutting issues mainstreamed across the four key priority areas.
Priority Area 1: Enhancing Inclusive growth and decent work – aims to support the South African Government to address the triple threat of poverty, unemployment and inequality
Priority Area 2:Climate Change and Greening South Africa’s Economy –aims to support the South African Government to grow its ecological footprint, elaborating its intent to contribute to a cleaner and greener global environment.
Priority Area 3:Strengthening Democratic Governance – aims to assist the South African Government to reposition the public sector to enhance the quality of service delivery through innovation, with emphasis on services to historically disadvantaged communities.
Priority Area 4:Support to South Africa’s Regional and Global Engagement – aims to support South Africa’s role in regionally and globally to promote South-South cooperation and raising Africa’s voice on development issues in UN and other multilateral fora.
The Country Office staff are made up of different contractual modalities i.e. Fixed Term, Service Contract, Special Service Agreement and UN Volunteers.