Well your last question, to close the gap as government we must continue to improve our education outcomes to ensure that our young people are at school, they acquire the necessary qualifications, they acquire the necessary skills so that their chances of being absorbed in the labour force are improved.
Of course as government we have done our part as you can see by the statistics that I've read that more and more women have gained promotions. They are now in senior positions in government. We are almost now standing at 39% which is a very remarkable improvement.
The private sector is lagging behind and there is an Act in place that compels all of us to work towards equity. So, somewhere it is the responsibility of this House when you do your oversight because you cannot just do your
oversight on government. I'm sure you also visit companies. One of the things that you must look at is whether they comply in terms the Employment Equity Act. The Act also allows for people with disability that a certain quota should be absorbed in the labour force. So, it is our responsibility to ensure that we encourage the public sector to also improve in this sector.
Now, in terms of the law that we have passed as the House, there should be no disparity in terms of salaries for people doing the same work, not unless there is a difference in terms of the job description. But, if the job description is the same, the law compels that these people must earn the same salary. I'm aware that, that is still happening but not in government. In government when we advertise a post, if we are looking for a chief director, the chief director will earn a certain amount of money whether it's male or female because the post will stipulate the salary but we don't advertise a post in government and say we are looking for a woman. No, we must look as people are being interviewed and all that, at a certain point, preference is given to a woman but as you advertise a post you are inviting everyone to apply.
But, accordingly whoever gets appointed as a chief director or as a director irregardless of him being a man or a woman, they will earn the same salary. Thank you very much.