House Chair and hon members, we meet today to celebrate International Women's Day, which takes place annually on 8 March. This year's United Nations theme is: "The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum". I dedicate my speech to all women who have been able to walk away from abusive relationships, despite their socioeconomic status, especially mothers who stood up against their partners to protect their girl-children. I salute you. [Applause.] You bring true meaning to the saying: Mma ngwana o tshwara thipa ka mo bogaleng. [A woman is always protective towards her children.]
The magnitude of gender-based violence in our society is a major cause of concern, given the ruling party's commitment to women's rights as human rights, and gender equality as a pillar of social transformation. In his state of the nation address, speaking on this matter, President Jocob Zuma said, and I quote:
The brutality and cruelty meted out to defenceless women is unacceptable and has no place in our society.
In September 1981, at the ANC conference in Lusaka, the capital city of Angola, O R Tambo said:
The mobilisation of women is the task not only of women alone or of men alone, but of all of us, men and women alike. There is therefore no way in which women in general can liberate themselves without fighting to end the exploitation of man by man.
This confirms that by working together we will be able to gain momentum in the gender agenda and ensure women's empowerment. This debate offers us an opportunity to reflect on the achievements and shortfalls that we as lawmakers have been able to register. The state intervention for enhanced and meaningful participation of women in the economy as a strategy to eliminate poverty, and reduce inequality and unemployment in South Africa is extremely important to all of us. Poverty affects most of us and now is the time that we should not turn our eyes away from it. Women's empowerment can no longer be just another general discussion.
Sustainable development requires the participation of both women and men. A growing body of evidence indicates that gender equality contributes to poverty reduction and sustainable growth. Women's increased education and participation in the labour force has been associated with improved economic performance. Indeed, global experience and a multitude of studies have proven that women have the potential to be a significant entrepreneurial force, contributing to the growth of local, national, and global economies.
Given the potential of the female workforce, the effective promotion of women entrepreneurship could change the face of the economy in South Africa. Women entrepreneurs can be a powerful source of economic growth and development in South Africa. According to census 2012, about 51% of our population in South Africa is comprised of women. Nonetheless, their potential is underutilised, and while the government has targets in place for gender parity, women are still underrepresented as leaders in business and in the political arena, although strides have been made in other areas.
While we applaud the ruling party for ensuring that women representatives take up 50% of their allocated seats in all spheres of government, we hope that other parties are going to learn from this and ensure that gender parity happens as they prepare for their 2014 candidate lists. I believe more can still be done to fast-track the transformation agenda of women in this country.
The economic empowerment of women is a prerequisite for sustainable development and the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals. Gender equality and women's empowerment are catalysts for multiplying development efforts. Investments in gender equality yield the highest returns of all development investments. Women usually invest a higher proportion of their earnings in their families and commodities than men.
According to the DAC Network on Gender Equality, Gendernet, achieving women's economic empowerment requires sound public policy, a holistic approach and long-term commitment. A gender-specific perspective must be integrated at the design stage of the policy and budget process. Women must have more equitable access to assets and services. Infrastructure programmes should be designed to benefit women, especially those in rural communities. Economic empowerment increases women's access to economic resources and opportunities, including jobs, financial services, properties and other productive assets, skills development and market information.
The Beijing Platform for Action identified 12 critical areas of concern as priorities for action. The African Centre for Women commissioned the preparation of evaluation reports on the implementation, in Africa, of the platform for action in the 12 critical areas of concern. It focuses mainly on the two related areas of concern, firstly, the persistent and increasing burden of poverty on women which they named; "women and poverty"; and secondly, inequality in economic structures and policies in all forms of productive activities, and in access to resources, which they called, "women and the economy".
Social and political factors have a significant influence on women's ability to participate in the economy. This includes access to family planning, other health care facility services, social protection coverage, girls' completion of quality post-primary education, improving the literacy rate of adult women, and increasing women's influence in governance structures and political decision-making. Many of those dimensions are mutually dependent and reinforcing.
Only 38% of South Africa's established businesses are women-owned. Despite the potential contribution of women to economic development, South African women remain on the outskirts of the economy, dominating the informal economy. Female representation in the top echelons of business lags far behind. The trends in South Africa are mixed. The Businesswomen's Association report, which provides a women in leadership census, shows that only 16% of all directors in South Africa in 2011 were women. This showed a slight increase from the 7% which we had in 2004.
Unity and struggle have placed South Africa on a trajectory of democracy such that we are enabled with the rest of the world to put our focus on the longest revolution of women in our beautiful land. The ANC and its government continue to champion for and advocate the participation of women in all sectors of society, hence championing for a democratic, nonracial, and nonsexist society.
The ANC-led government has also led some campaigns in the Southern African region and the African continent. The ANC-led government played a critical role in the adoption of the Southern African Development Community, SADC, and the Gender Protocol, with its programme for gender equality and the commitment of no less than a 50% quota for women in all decision-making structures in SADC countries by 2014. We welcome this very much and we are looking forward to seeing this achievement by 2014.
As hon members and members of the House, we are looking forward to receiving the Gender Equality and Women Empowerment Bill, which has been adopted by Cabinet. We are also looking forward to it being passed into law to ensure that the empowerment of women does not remain only the responsibility of government, but becomes that of the entire society, especially the private sector.
In conclusion, I would like to quote President Nelson Mandela when he said:
To change the lives of women and to achieve our goals as a nation, we must ensure that women participate fully in every sphere of the economic life of our society. I thank you. [Applause.]