Hon Speaker, we fully agree with the statement raised by the member that we have more young women graduates from our institutions of higher learning but few of them are being absorbed into the labour force. According to the council of higher education's vital statistics, 59 487 women graduates with
degrees from public universities in 2017 have graduated, compared to 36 627 men. A similar trend is evident considering students who graduated with diplomas and certificate qualifications. Yet women remain the most affected by unemployment in comparison to men and this has consistently been shown by the quarterly labour survey conducted by Statistics South Africa since 2011. This is a serious concern.
The systematic exclusion of women and workplace discriminatory practices which are rooted in patriarchal culture, social systems of male dominance and gender stereotypes that undermines the role and standing of women in society.
These social norms and gender stereotypes tend to be replicated in recruitment and selection processes for employment. In a non-racial, non- sexist democratic and equal society, this injustice cannot be allowed to continue. As part of the broader social transformation agenda, the empowerment of women across all facets of life experience is meant to eliminate all statural and
social barriers that prevent women from accessing equal opportunities as men including employment opportunities.
There is no doubt that transforming the world of work for women and ensuring their inclusion into economic growth and mainstream economic activities requires the elimination of discriminatory laws, policies, practices and social norms. To achieve this, there should be concerted effort to implement legislative and policy interventions to address women discrimination and advance gender equality.
Since 1994, government adopted different equality and other empowering laws including policies and chatters which have quotas and targets for equity. For instance, among others we now have the Employment Equity Act of 1998 and its amendments and the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003 and its amendments. South Africa has also adopted legislative directive to embrace a new and broader agenda for equal employment opportunities for women in an attempt to improve women standing in the workplace.
The Employment Equity Act has been further amended to include the principle of equal pay, equal value and for equal work in order to bridge the wage gap between men and women. If implemented correctly, these anti discriminatory directives will allow women to have a chance to enter the workplace in an equal manner, not only as a form of empowerment for women but also to contribute equally to economic growth and capacity building within the country, consequently giving women equal opportunities that would enhance their social and economic standing.
Relevant constitutional institutions are working tirelessly to ensure that women are represented in various facets of life including educational institutions and the labour market. The commission for gender equality plays a crucial role in monitoring and evaluating policies and practices of organisations and institutions both in the public and private sector across society to promote gender equality. From time to time the commission makes recommendations aimed at further advancing gender equality in our society.
Another important intervention is through the commission for employment equity which monitors and intervenes to address disparities in the labour market. The commissions recently released the nineteenth annual report which highlighted the need to increase the employment and representation of women. It is also looking deeply at the issue of workplace targets to employers.
Indications are that, although progress is slow, these efforts and all these legislative frameworks that are put in place, all these efforts are starting to bear some positive fruits. For instance, the commission's report of employment equity shows that the representation of women in top management positions has increased from 13,7% from 2002 to 23,5% in 2018, a significant improvement. Representation of women in senior management positions increased from 21,6% in 2002 to 34,5 in 2018.
Government is a key contributor to this positive trend as evident in the employment equity report for the year 2018. Women are becoming increasingly represented in management positions within government. With 33% occupying top management positions in government and 39%
occupying senior management positions. We need to see these similar trends in the private sector. The private sector must implement targeted training, recruitment and mentorship programs that create pathways for women to enter the labour market and gain promotions to leadership positions within their companies.
We have an obligation to target the inequalities and gaps related to labour force participation by women. We call on all the employers across all sectors in the country to intensify efforts to engender equality in our society.
As a country let us continue in our efforts of educating our people, more emphasis on women, training and skilling our people, more emphasis should be placed on women especially the young ones to respond to the new opportunities in the changing world of work. Thank you very much Speaker.