Chairperson, the IFP welcomes the debate. However, I hasten to add that women still suffer and bear the brunt of poverty, disease, unemployment and social ills. KwaZulu-Natal has a larger proportion of females than males and women carry a heavier burden of poverty. Women are more vulnerable to HIV and Aids. Women and children are being trafficked across the world as commodities to be bought and sold.
Even more disturbing is the fact that some families are grooming their daughters for prostitution. Is this the type of society we want for our children? Where are the moral, spiritual and social values? As a mother, daughter and grandmother, I shudder to think how we can be grooming our children to sell their bodies through prostitution and sell their flesh for money and material comforts. Is our country becoming another Sodom and Gomorrah?
While it is true that we have attained legal equal rights for women, there is still much that needs to be done for social practices and prejudices to catch up with legal precedents. How can we boast of all the accomplishments when our women are dying of Aids, are still being raped, abused and left in the dire straits of poverty?
So, today we should also take the time to reflect on areas where we have fallen short of the noble ideals of our Constitution because rights on paper do not always translate into rights in practice. In fact, we are finding that as women achieve freedom in some areas, their freedom in other areas is being lost.
Women now have equal access to jobs, but jobs are just not there. Women are still being harassed at the workplace. Women are still not economically empowered. Pass laws are gone, but the streets are too dangerous for women. Women still cannot walk the streets at night or during the day. Apartheid planning has ceased, but informal settlements are growing. Child-headed households are on the increase.
There are too many women still relying on men for an income; too many sugar daddies; too much abuse. [Interjections.] Can we say we have done enough? The answer is no. This means we need to focus on the bigger picture of rapid and sustained economic growth.
It was the leader of the IFP, Prince M G Buthelezi, who told us that there is nothing that women cannot do. Let us come together and ensure that the struggle for women's rights continues. Let us do the impossible. Let us fight to ensure that women are truly free. Mama Dlulane, the IFP is doing the job. I am really doing what she says the opposition parties must do. She says we are not helping to fight, but just last week Mr Ndlovu issued a statement on behalf of women, which was discussed in the caucus. This is how the IFP is. [Applause.]