If I had wanted to ask you, I would have asked you, but I believe we have to do this together and not the Minister alone. Hon Lamoela, you say that the Minister must prove to us her worth and what she's doing. I don't think we are in a court of law here, where she actually has to prove this to us. We have to work together with her so that, in the end, we achieve gender equality and women empowerment. I didn't ask you. If I wanted to ask you, I would have called your name. [Interjections.] So, don't just butt in to answer for your colleague. [Interjections.]
I now turn to my topic, which is women empowerment and gender equality. As we debate this Budget Vote for Women, Children and People with Disabilities today, we need to do so with pride for the enormous achievements that we, as women, have made in our struggle for the emancipation of women. This has been done in the context of our long national democratic struggle, under the leadership of the now century-old liberation movement, the ANC. The ANC Women's League has, since its formation in 1948, mobilised for women's rights and gender equality within the movement itself as well, as in society as a whole.
As the Portfolio Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities, our role is to oversee this Vote, Vote 8, through the programmes of the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities in the promotion of ideals for the achievement of women empowerment, gender equality and the eradication of patriarchy in our social relations. As a result, we as the portfolio committee studied the 2005 World Economic Forum survey on measuring the global gap in women empowerment. South Africa ranked 36 out of 58 countries surveyed. South Africa has the highest mark for women's political empowerment, indicating that much progress has been made in this regard.
However, with regard to other women empowerment and equality issues, such as economic and marketing relations, the role that women play was brought forward. It has been noticed that there is minimal leadership training for women participating in economic processes in order to enhance their effectiveness. There is a lack of a gender mainstreaming approach in the conceptual and developmental phase of processes within government institutions as a monitoring tool.
Another observation revealed that we have 0,5% women in the mining industry, 1,9% women in the construction industry, and 2,5% women in the transport industry. The analysis concluded that higher percentages of women undertake low-wage employment, and that women primarily serve as domestic workers and home-based caregivers. They remain consistently underrepresented in high-skill, high-wage employment.
Other research done by the Quarterly Labour Force Survey in 2011 indicates that unemployment of women stands at 28%, whilst that of men is at 22,5%, and this indicates that more needs to be done. Informed by this survey and other surveys, the ANC-led government is really committed to its strategic objective of rendering South Africa nonsexist, nondiscriminatory and united.
Why this qualification? It is due to the fact that next month, in June, the ANC will be holding its policy conference, and gender equality will be one of the topics. At this conference the ANC will be assessing how far the programmes are in eliminating gender inequalities in informal and formal employment. It will, again, find out how far the monitoring is in the process of promoting women empowerment and gender equality. After this, the information will be used to sharpen the policies within the government.
Holistically, the framework for the conference - or the issues which will be discussed during it - will be the framework of economic participation, which refers to the presence or numbers of women active within the labour force. The increased number of women who contribute and participate in the economy is important for lowering levels of poverty amongst women. In addition, it is also a means of raising household income and encouraging economic development.
The other sphere will be that of economic opportunity. Here the conference will assess women's economic involvement to see how many women are employed in high-skilled jobs. It will find out whether there are any improvements in economic opportunities for women - in other words, whether women's access to education and information opportunities has improved, because without education, there can be no empowerment or development.
As far as rural women are concerned, the conference will assess whether there is access to farming land, fertiliser, seed and ploughing equipment. It will assess whether those women received an education, whether their numbers have increased in decision-making, and whether they are given a chance to access credit for the farming of the land as their means of living.
This shows great commitment by the ANC-led government, through continual research and surveying, in order to understand exactly what needs to be improved or discarded to better the policies within government and the lives of South African women, by rendering this country nonsexist. To conclude, O R Tambo once 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 ... A system based on exploitation of man by man can in no way avoid the exploitation of women by the male members of society. There is therefore no way in which women in general can liberate themselves without fighting to end the exploitation of man by man, both as a concept and as a social system.
We, the ANC, support Budget Vote No 8: Women, Children and People with Disabilities. [Applause.]