Women's group to advise Mbeki
13 May 2005
President Thabo Mbeki has set up a Presidential Women's Working Group to advise the government and establish a shared understanding of the transformation challenges facing South African women - helping them move up from "the bottom of the pile" of illiteracy and poverty.
"It is important that the Presidency has a system of regular discussion with the women of our country, so together we can sit and discuss the challenges women face, and what we can do to respond to those challenges", Mbeki said on Tuesday.
He was speaking at the first annual national conference of the SA Women Entrepreneurs Network (Sawen) in Johannesburg. Sawen, an initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry, is part of the new presidential working group.
"As government we believe we should hear directly from women themselves about what they think the government is doing or not doing", Mbeki said, urging Sawen to use the working group to evaluate laws aimed at
improving women's lives.
"Confront these issues", Mbeki said. "Say: 'Let's see what all these interventions are producing.'"
"Let's make a success of the effort. Its success is successful women entrepreneurs, not a successful conference. We must be able to say, Mary, Jane, Mmathabo and so on are successful businesswomen", Mbeki said to applause from the audience.
"The women of South Africa are determined to take responsibility for the future of the country. They don't believe that the best they can do is to be secondary to somebody else."
"Most women are still illiterate and victims of violence", the President said. "This meeting needs to say women are determined to end all of that."
'More needs to be done for women'
Mbeki said the government had not yet done enough to promote women's participation in the economy, despite a host of empowerment laws and policies. He identified access to capital and to domestic and foreign
markets as obstacles faced by women in business.
"Do laws assist with access to capital?" he asked. "I have my doubts about that."
All of the top 40 companies listed on the JSE are headed by men. Women make up 52% of South Africa's adult population and 41% of its workforce, yet there are only seven female CEOs in the 364 companies listed on the stock exchange.
First meeting of the working group
The first meeting of the Presidential Women's Working Group was held in August 2004. At the time, Mbeki urged women to ensure that the real concerns of their constituencies, both urban and rural, were brought to his attention.
He also raised concerns about the representation of various women's bodies in the group, emphasising the need for the body to be as inclusive of all women's groups as possible.
"Over time we need to allow for space to increase the number of delegates in this group", Mbeki said, adding that one of the
obstacles to the establishment of the body was the large number of different women's groups in the country and the difficulty in bringing all of them under one roof.
Women who attended the first meeting included Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, Correctional Services Deputy Minister Cheryl Gillwald, Commission on Gender Equality chairperson Joyce Seroke, National Rural Movement for Women chairperson Mita Mokwana, and Women's Development Foundation president Brigalia Bam.
Also in attendance were Business Women Association of SA president Namane Magau, Dudu Mokoena of Disabled People SA, Malethola Nkwe of the Widows Forum SA, and Judge Leona Theron of the SA chapter of the International Association of Women Judges.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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