OSW PRESENTS:

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OSW PRESENTS

• CONCEPT DOCUMENT FOR GENDER RESEARCH PROFILE
• TO THE NATIONAL GENDER MACHINERY (NGM)
• 09 OCTOBER 2007

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1. INTRODUCTION.

• Inform the NGM about the donor funding by African
  Development Bank to commission a research on
  Gender
• Areas focused
• -Institutional arrangement for the advancement
  of Women
• -Gender Based Violence
• -Women and Economy
• -Education and Training for Women
• -Women in Health
• -Women and Poverty

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2. Institutional arrangement for the advancement
of Women

• The South African National Gender Policy
  Framework for Womens Empowerment and Gender
  Equality
• RDP White Paper specifically recognized the need
  to eliminate sexism in all spheres of society. It
  undertook empowerment programme for women, taking
  into account that women often represent the
  poorest, most exploited and most marginalized
  sections of our country.
• Womens empowerment is a means to achieving
  gender equality.

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2. Institutional arrangement for the advancement
of Women

• Structure and functions of NGM
• Consist of the following facilitative
  components
• OSW
• GFP
• JMC
• CGE
• NGO

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2.1 Functions of OSW

• To advance a national policy on womens
  empowerment and gender equality
• To prioritize key concerns and initiate policy
  and action-oriented research relevant to gender
  mainstreaming
• To advise and brief
• To liaise between local and international
  agencies
• To work with Ministries and departments,
  provinces and all publicly funded bodies

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2.1 Functions of OSW

• To develop key indicators
• To arrange for training
• To initiate and promote cross-sectoral action on
  cross cutting issues
• To provide a co-ordination framework
• To consult and liaise with civil society and
  Parliament

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2.2 Functions of GFP

• To ensure implements the National Gender Policy
• To ensure consideration of gender issues in
  depart strat plan, business plan.
• To review departmental policy and planning in
  line with the National Gender Policy Framework
• To review all policies, projects and programmes
  for their gender implications

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2.2 Functions of GFP

• To ensure that departments provide and use gender
  disaggregated data in their work
• To establish mechanisms to link and liaise with
  civil society
• To co-ordinate gender training and education of
  all staff within departments
• To monitor and evaluate departmental projects and
  programmes to assess whether they are consistent
  with national gender policy.

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2.3 Functions of JMC

• Monitor and evaluate progress with regard to the
  improvement in the quality of life and status of
  women in South Africa, with specific reference to
  the governments commitments
• To the Beijing Platform of Action
• With regard to the implementation of the
  Convention on the elimination of Discrimination
  against women and
• To any other specific international instruments

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2.3 Functions of JMC

• May make recommendations to both or either of the
  Houses, or any joint or House Committee, on any
  relevant matter
• To liaise closely with institutions, bodies or
  authorities with similar objectives to the CGE
• To liaise and interact with any organisation
  which actively promotes gender equality,

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2.4 Functions of CGE

• To monitor compliance with international
  conventions, covenants and charters
• Prepare and submit reports to Parliament
• To conduct or commission research to further the
  objectives of the Commission
• To consider recommendations, suggestions and
  requests concerning the promotion of gender
  equality.

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2.5 Functions of NGO

• To facilitate the advancement of womens
  empowerment and gender equality.

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2.6 Challenges

• Lack of dedicated budget for gender.
• Gender directorate at a lower level with limited
  decision making.
• There is a general lack of knowledge and
  understanding of gender concepts and gender
  mainstreaming
• challenges with respect to
• The establishment dedicated Gender Units or Focal
  Points (GFPs)
• Their rank and
• Lines of authority, accountability and reporting.

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3. Gender Based Violence.

• Government has initiated Programmes for an
  integrated approach to issues of Gender based
  Violence, which responds to the CEDAW
• Participation of South Africa in the 16 days of
  Activism Campaign
• The SADC Draft Protocol on Gender and Development
  

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4. Women in economy

• S A has implemented measures to promote
  womens fuller participation in the control of
  the economy such as
• Enhancing womens participation in fiscal and
  economic policy
• Increasing womens access to Broad-Based Black
  Economic Empowerment Act (BBBEE),
• Law reform to enhance access to economic resources

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4. Women in economy

• Financial services, lending mechanisms, credit
  and micro-credit
• Increased access by women to employment, markets
  and trade, training and information technology
  law reform, tender processes income-generating
  opportunities technical skills development
  measures business-related skills development
  business support particularly for low-income
  women and rural based women

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4. Women in economy

• The following organizations increased womens
  access to empowerment strategies
• South African Women Entrepreneurs Network
  (SAWEN)
• Technology for Women in Business (TWIB)
• Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiatives of
  South Africa (ASGI-SA)
• Presidential working group on women (PWGW)
• South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID)
• The Womens Budget Initiative (WBI)

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5. Women and education

• Education is an essential component of the
  reconstruction, development and transformation of
  South African society.
• The Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the
  Republic of South Africa (1996) enshrines the
  right of all citizens "to a basic education,
  including adult basic education, and to further
  education, which the state, through reasonable
  measures, must make progressively available and
  accessible".

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5. Women and education

• Strategic objectives for department of education
  
• Develop non-discriminatory education and training
• Right to basic education
• Access to free and quality basic education
• Pregnancy and girl-child dropout

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5. Women and education

• Challenges
• Accessibility of information
• Accessibility of schools
• Other family commitments and responsibilities

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6. Women and poverty

• The eradication of poverty and inequality, and
  restoring the dignity of all citizens is the core
  of the South African Constitution and government
  programmes.
• The President of South Africa Mr. Thabo Mbeki in
  his State of the Nation Address for 2007
  mentioned that the government committed itself,
  working with all South Africans, to implement
  detailed programmes intended, to mention few
• to raise the rate of investment in the First
  Economy

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6. Women and poverty

• to promote the growth of the small and medium
  business sectorto speed up the process of
  skills development to improve our export
  performance, focusing on services and
  manufactured goods to increase spending on
  scientific research and development to
  implement programmes to ensure broad-based black
  economic empowerment to reduce the cost of
  doing business in our country

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6. Women and poverty

• to continue with programmes to build a social
  security net to meet the objectives of poverty
  alleviation to expand access to such services
  as water, electricity and sanitation to
  improve the health profile of the nation as a
  whole
• to intensify the housing programme to
  implement additional measures to open wider the
  doors of learning and of culture

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6. Women and poverty

• to improve the safety and security of all
  citizens and communities to ensure that the
  public sector discharges its responsibilities as
  a critical player in the growth, reconstruction
  and development of our country to accelerate
  the process of renewal of the African continent
  and increasingly to contribute to the
  resolution of major questions facing peoples of
  the world.

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6. Women and poverty

• Challenges
• The government has made progress with regard to
  the advancement of women in particular, although
  in many aspects, men are still more advantaged.
• Government has realised that there is a need to
  improve the extent of integration and cohesion
  between the various poverty alleviation
  interventions
• Review the extent to which current measures on
  womens access to finance have responded to the
  RDP

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7. Women and health

• The Government committed itself to improve
  womens health and to reduce morbidity and
  mortality.
• Maternal Mortality Ratio measures the wellbeing
  of mothers and is key Millennium Development
  Goals ( MDG) indicator.
• The SA Maternal Mortality Ratio is increasing
  elated to HIV infection
• In 2007 HIV amongst adult women (20-64) has
  reached a level of 18,1, and 20, 7 amongst
  women aged between 15-49 years.

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8. Conclusion

• An independent body is required to critically
  look into Governments performance in relation to
  womens development and gender equality in order
  to identify the gaps that exist.
• The African Development Bank funded the research.
• National Gender Machinery to identify Terms of
  Reference

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Thanks

• LINDA