Programme Director,
Chairperson of the Commission for Gender Equality, Advocate Nthabiseng Sepanya-Mogale,
Commissioners of the Commission for Gender Equality,
Distinguished guests,
Members of the media,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon,

I am pleased to join this important and timely gathering. The reflection on the strides South Africa has made in terms of gender equality is one of the most important undertakings we can make as we commemorate 30 years of democracy and freedom, and continue to chart the path towards the South Africa we want.

I am excited to see engagements such as this conference hosted by the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) continuing in the mainstream given the Commission’s important constitutional mandate as entrenched through Section 187 (1) of our Constitution. This gathering brings together key stakeholders in government, private sector and civil society. This is what we need, as we continue to call on all stakeholders in society to join efforts and to implement measures to achieve gender equality.

Since the advent of democracy in South Africa, our government has been committed to the national and international instruments aimed at advancing the emancipation and empowerment of women. These include, but not limited to our Constitution; the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform of Action.

Over the past three decades, our government has adopted and implemented progressive policies focused on socio-economic transformation, and to empower previously marginalised groups, including women. Much has been done to achieve gender equality in the country.

We have an enabling legislative environment, which has seen women making key strides in traditionally male-dominated sectors, such as finance, energy, trade, transport and logistics, and mining. We also see women making strides in emerging economies such as the digital economy and artificial intelligence.

Programme Director,

Despite these gains, many challenges remain.
The challenges inhibiting women empowerment and gender equality in the country are well known. The scourge of Gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), and lack of sufficient economic opportunities for women, access to education and employment, continue to undermine our interventions and laid out plans to achieve women empowerment and gender equality.

I am encouraged that the speakers and panellists in this conference have echoed the message of collaboration in achieving our goals for gender equality. I also acknowledge the demand for government to implement measures to accelerate movement towards empowering women and bridging the inequality gap. We need collective action to ensure that we move in the same direction and to ensure that these matters holding us back towards achieving gender equality are addressed.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), our role is to ensure policy coordination and implementation, and institutionalising planning in Government. Our focus has been to ensure that all policies and plans of government are aligned to the National Development Plan (NDP), and that they centre on women empowerment.

This focus gives us an opportunity to increase the impact of our interventions to empower women, to be more strategic in having evidence-based implementation of policies and plans, and to ensure alignment in all levels of government towards achieving development goals, which prioritise women empowerment and gender equality.

Ladies and gentlemen,

You will recall that in response to the stubborn scourge of GBVF in our country, government in collaboration with civil society adopted the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on GBVF.

There is a common understanding in our communities of the seriousness of the GBVF scourge. The quarterly NSP report finds that most South African citizens believe gender-based violence is the most pressing issue related to women’s rights. We need collective action to end the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide in our communities.
We are committed to ensure the implementation of the NSP on GBVF. The partnership between government, the private sector and civil society which saw the development of this plan, needs to continue to ensure that it is implemented. This year, the President also signed the National Council on GBVF Bill, which will assist in providing strategic guidance in the fight to end GBVF.
Our department will ensure more effective monitoring and evaluation of government’s response to end GBVF, and that women empowerment remains at the centre of government’s actions to achieve the goals of the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) and the NDP.

Programme Director,

To make our collective efforts to empower women more effective in the country, we need to mainstream gender issues at all levels of society. In all spheres of society, whether it be in business, media and the various levels of government, we should not just talk about women issues only on Women’s Month, these should be continuous engagements through the year.

We should also call out behaviour and actions that go against the efforts to empower women. We need a societal shift on how women leaders are seen in our society – whether it be in institutions, organisations, and the community.

For example, you do not call or promote women leaders in organisations only when your organisation is facing a crisis. We have seen examples in our recent past, where women have been put in leadership positions and have been made the face of organisations that are going through a scandal. What does it mean when organisations only recognise women leaders when they need to soften the blow to recover from a scandal?

Gender equality should not be a footnote in discussions of building the country’s economy and an inclusive society. As I have echoed, all policies and plans in our country should be driven by the aim of ensuring gender equality and empowering women. What is inclusivity when gender equality does not feature prominently?

We should be more deliberate in all our platforms and spaces of participation in society about prioritising women empowerment to achieve gender equality. For our interventions to stand a chance, the work to achieve gender equality and to empower women should begin at home, as we assign roles to our children and check our own behaviours.

In conclusion, South Africa has made important strides towards gender equality over the past 30 years of democracy. The government has established transformative legislative frameworks, and we have strong private sector and civil society. Together, we all share a common goal of a prosperous and inclusive South Africa, which can achieve its development goals.

Having said that, we need to do more collectively. We need to be more deliberate and precise in our collective efforts to achieve gender equality in the country. We need to deepen our interventions so that women can participate meaningfully and substantively in the economy through greater economic opportunities, safety, and access to healthcare and education.

As the founding father of our democratic South Africa, Tata Nelson Mandela once noted “Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression”

I thank you!