Hon Deputy Speaker, hon members and guests, you are welcome. The DA strongly supports the empowerment of women, but we believe that this Bill will not bring any change to the lives of millions of women who are unemployed and bearing the brunt of poverty day in and day out.
This Bill is another sad story of more talk and promises, and less action by the government. The Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill, the Wege Bill, does very little for rural women; women with disabilities; women who earn money through informal trading; women exposed to violence; women who are failed by the justice system; sex workers; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex, LGBTI, persons. The list is very long.
There has been talk of other Bills in the pipeline, such as the Muslim Marriages Bill, the sex work industry Bill and the hate crimes Bill, but to date none of them has reached this House. Instead, the ANC has pursued the Traditional Courts Bill which violates the basic rights of, particularly, rural women. This is another indication that this government is not truly interested in real women's empowerment.
The Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill only serves women who are already employed, empowered and protected against discrimination by existing legislation. The Bill will have little or no impact on the majority of the poor and suffering women in our country.
True empowerment is through the provision of quality education to the girl child. The department's priority should be to support women by monitoring service delivery and ensuring that women have access to basic services, government resources and safety mechanisms. Hon Ramodibe, empowering a woman starts at community level, not in the boardroom.
This department has failed dismally. It could not even monitor the implementation of existing laws and policies relating to women's empowerment. How can we expect them to deliver on this massive and costly Bill?
It is indeed sad that 20 years into our democracy the majority of women in our country are still suffering. The failure of this department is also apparent in the continued high levels of sexual violence against women, children and sexual minorities. Bear in mind that the ANC-led government chose not to condemn the recently passed homophobic law in Uganda, which allows for repeat homosexual offenders to be jailed for life. What message does this send to the LGBTI persons in South Africa? Is this a government serious about gender equality and ending gender-based violence? No way.
Deputy Speaker, the DA does not support this Bill. Instead, we believe that the government should undertake a comprehensive audit of the impact of existing laws relating to women's empowerment before introducing another redundant law that will not be implemented or address key issues; a law that might deter investors and will result in another Fluxmans' report situation. Cadre and quota employment systems without merit are a disaster; hence the problem we are having.
Hon Bhoola, you spent almost two years trying to take a woman out of her job. I was very shocked to see you standing here and saying the things you said about the DA.
Empowering a woman is something that is critical and very sensitive. It is not something that needs a piece of legislation that will not be implemented. We have so much that has not been audited in terms of the outcomes, impact and behavioural changes in respect of women and men at ground level.
It all starts with education; not a piece of legislation for electioneering for the ANC that is not going to be implemented. Without education, quality health, and real women's and gender equality, there will be no women's empowerment. Thank you, Deputy Speaker.