Agb Voorsitter, namens baie mans wil ek vandag erkenning gee aan die belangrike bydrae wat vroue in ons lewens gespeel het en nog steeds speel. Ons moeders, eggenote, susters, dogters, vroulike kollegas en vriendinne help om ons en ons gedagtes te vorm. Ons onthou met groot dankbaarheid daardie grondslagfase-onderwyseresse wat ons geleer lees en skryf het.
Ons eer vandag ook vroue se bydrae op soveel ander gebiede. Die visie van 'n oop geleentheidsgedrewe samelewing is een waarin elke individu se talente vrylik ontwikkel, maar dan ook ten volle benut sal word. Beide onderwys en vroueregte is daarom belangrike aspekte in 'n oop geleentheidsgedrewe samelewing.
Ons Handves van Regte het baie gedoen vir die bevordering van vroueregte en, soos my kollega die agb Denise Robinson vroer ges het, vroueregte is essensieel menseregte.
Tog kan ons nie ontken dat onbillike geslagsdiskriminasie nog elke dag rondom ons plaasvind nie. Die debat rondom vroueregte kan ons baie help in die groter debat oor regstellende aksie ten opsigte van ander verdruktes. Hier het ons nie te doen met 'n minderheidsgroep of 'n groep waarvan ons kan s dat hulle op taal- of kultuurgebied ver van ons af staan nie. Alhoewel die debat oor vroueregte in die verlede soms warm verloop het, is daar deesdae in hierdie debat 'n nugterheid wat van groot waarde kan wees, ook vir ons ander debatte oor vorms van onbillike diskriminasie in ons land.
Wat ons met hierdie regstellende aksie-debat help, is dat vroue nie op grond van hul skoolprestasies enigsins as die swakker geslag beskou word nie. [Tussenwerpsels.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Mr A P VAN DER WESTHUIZEN: Hon Chairperson, on behalf of many men I would like to acknowledge today the important role women have played and are still playing in our lives. Our mothers, spouses, sisters, daughters, female colleagues and girlfriends help us in shaping ourselves and our thoughts. We remember with real gratitude those foundation phase teachers who taught us how to read and write.
Today we also honour the contributions of women in so many other areas. The vision of an open opportunity-driven society is one in which each individual's talents will develop freely and be fully utilised as well. The rights of teachers and women therefore are important aspects in an open opportunity-driven society.
Our Bill of Rights has done a lot for the promotion of women's rights and, as my colleague the hon Denise Robinson said earlier, women's rights are essentially human rights. Yet we cannot deny that unfair gender discrimination is still taking place on a daily basis around us. The debate around women's rights can really assist us in the greater debate regarding affirmative action in respect of other oppressed people. Here we are not dealing with a minority group or a group of which one could say that they are far removed from us regarding language or culture.
Although women's rights were at times in the past hotly debated, nowadays there is a soberness to it which can be of great value, also regarding our other debates around forms of unfair discrimination in our country.
As regards this debate about affirmative action, it is helpful to realise that women are not regarded as the weaker sex based on their academic performance. [Interjections.]]