Gender equity: struggle not over
Candace Freeman
14 February 2003
President Thabo Mbeki says although government is making progress in addressing gender equality, society still lags far behind in implementing the policy.
Speaking during his State of the Nation address in Parliament, Cape Town on Friday, Mbeki said: "‘In the private sector and civil society, the campaign on the rights of women has started at least to form part of national discourse.
"But society still lags far behind, in terms of actual implementation, particularly in mainstreaming gender issues on development and poverty eradication."
Mbeki added that government will continue campaigning for the implementation of the National Framework for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality. "We will soon introduce a system through which gender representation targets and content of programmes become part of the core performance criteria of every government institution and manager.
"The challenge we all face as South Africans is to put
our shoulder to the wheel to accelerate the pace of change," Mbeki said.
In pursuing this challenge, women-owned businesses would receive additional support through the South African Women Entrepreneurs Network (SAWEN), which was launched last year.
More financial and other resources are to be committed to small- and medium-sized businesses (SMMEs) and the cooperative sector, as the development and support of this sector of the economy is a main priority of government, said Mbeki.
"We will table legislation amending the Small Business Act, among other things, to establish a nationwide advocacy body to act as the voice of this sector and to ensure that support to SMMEs is available at local level throughout the country."
Source: BuaNews
| 
