Commission for Gender Equality

1. Commission for Gender Equality National Gender Summit 2014 Reviewing The Gains And Challenges Facing Gender Equality, 20 Years of Democracy Ekurhuleni, South Africa 9-11 April 2014

2. Introduction • The purpose of the summit was to provide a platform for critical debate on the attainment of gender equality in South Africa, and the challenges experienced as the country celebrates 20 years of democracy. • Through the summit the CGE sought to take stock of, and celebrate, gender equality gains while critically assessing persistent shortcomings and gaps. • The intention of the summit was to ascertain the current vision, political climate and responsibility for working towards gender equality; assessing policy effectiveness, strategy and capacity to attend the gender equality commitments outlined in the South African Constitution, legal framework and international obligations.

3. Summit Objectives • The following were the main objectives of the summit: • To celebrate achievements in promoting, attaining and protecting gender equality since the inception of South Africa’s democratic dispensation in 994. • To review changes within the country’s gender architecture and assess the effectiveness of the National Gender Machinery (NGM). • To consider the role of the National Council for Gender Based Violence (GBV), the representation and collaboration of the critical role players in the council, and its effectiveness in co-ordinating the implementation, co-ordination and review of the 365 days National Action Plan on GBV. • To review the legislative framework for gender equality and surface implementation, challenges and failures as well as South Africa’s compliance with international, regional and continental instruments that promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

4. Summit Objectives • To identify challenges in building and sustaining an effective women’s movement, and assess the effectiveness of South Africa’s women’s and feminist movements. • To discuss the impact of the role of masculinity in defining the role and place of boys and men in a society premised on fundamental values of human rights, gender equality and non sexism. • To develop strategies to address persistent social barriers to gender equality leading to particular forms of gender discrimination and abuse, such as GBV, harmful and discriminatory practices, discriminatory and harmful behaviours towards LGBTI people, sex workers and intersectional issues of race, class and gender impacting on women

5. Summit Objectives • Deliberate on the unequal burden on civil society and institutions such as the CGE, indicating conditions and mobilising resources for necessary gender equality interventions. • Enable a regional and continental engagements and deliberations on country interventions, international partnerships and global best practices in promoting gender equality. • Develop an action plan on strengthening gender equality institutions and addressing challenges identified.

6. Summit Outputs The following were the envisaged summit outputs: • Development of a programme of action capturing recommendations for strengthened gender equality institutions, policy formulation and implementation. • Development of appropriate and adequate local programmes of action on promoting gender equality; • Production of a report on the status of gender equality in South  Africa, 20 years post democracy. • A revival of feminist networking and activism on challenges to the attainment of gender equality, and building an agenda for the women’s movement post 2015, to inform national and international deliberations and interventions in this regard.

7. Gender equality gains • Constitution calls for equality, equal protection and benefit before the law; and non-discrimination • National Policy Framework on Gender Equality developed, establishing National Gender Machinery, including the CGE and now the Women’s Ministry, to address the social and economic marginalization of South African women • Several anti-discriminatory laws promulgated - Employment Equity Act; PEPUDA and Equality Courts; DVA; Recognition of Customary Marriages Act; Sexual Offences Act; forthcoming WEGE Bill…. • Key regional and international protocols endorsed – CEDAW; Beijing Platform for Action; SADC Protocol on Gender and Development; Protocol to the ACHPR on the Rights of Women in Africa… • Increase in women’s representation in politics and civil service… • Active civil society that strives to hold the state accountable

8. Challenges to gender equality • Failure to engender key development and policy frameworks (NDP; land reform; climate change response ..) • Failed implementation of gender mainstreaming of departmental programmes and budgets. Conservative attitudes to gender equality (HR issue); inadequate senior management commitment and accountability, targets, skills and budgets, M&E mechanisms, location of GFPs.. • Gender equality reduced from political vision to “women’s empowerment” - women viewed as a vulnerable group, along with children and people with disabilities; interventions reduced to events • State failure to adequately implement key legislation and international treaties designed to address gender inequality and GBV – CEDAW; SOA; DVA – training, policy frameworks and guidelines, allocation of resources, enforcement challenges • Inadequate funding for gender equality structures 

9. Challenges to gender equality • Very active civil society, but weakened by diminishing funding, and added burden of services that should be provided by state (eg shelters for domestic violence). Civil society is not consulted and recommendations are not taken seriously by government. • 50/50 women’s representation not taken seriously in the private sector, the judiciary or by all political parties. • Institutional cultures are male dominated and remain untransformed – women in management/leadership positions often isolated and without support networks – leads to attrition. • The criminal justice system fails women due to a lack of police training and secondary victimization by the police and in the courts. • There is a general neglect of LGBTI issues, rural women, women with disabilities and sex workers, as well as violence against these communities.

10. Persistent inequalities • Gender Based Violence: significant under reporting; lack of funding for prevention and response interventions; duplication and lack of coordination among stakeholders; unclear role of NCGBV; lack of M&E of programmes; lack of access to justice and impunity of offenders, inadequate services for survivors of GBV. • Women are exposed to poverty in large numbers, especially in the rural areas. Requires macro-economic response to structural barriers to women’s equal accommodation in the formal economy. Women’s inadequate access to education, training and skills enhancement, micro finance for small businesses, entrepreneurship opportunities and land ownership.

11. Inequalities • Gender identitiesare enforced on people in hetero-normative societies, like South Africa. Stereotypes and stigma against LGBTI people are perpetuated by the media, in societal institutions and cultural perceptions. Attitudes of officials and care workers are abusive and impact on the safety and rights of members of these communities. LGTBI people experience domestic, cultural, legal and employment barriers as well as hostility from the criminal justice system. • Traditional and cultural practices that influence women in a harmful way need interrogation (ukuthwala, ukuhlolwa, ukungena, FGM, early child marriage). Many religious denominations still interpret religious texts in a patriarchal way and undermine women’s equality. We also need an understanding of the harmful practices of other race and religious groups in South Africa.

12. Inequalities • Women face economic, domestic, cultural and legal barriers to health care and sexual and reproductive health rights and services. Men’s risk taking behavior contributes to women’s ill health. Women need to be able to control their own health and to have access to decent health care (private/public). • There is no umbrella women’s movementthat can take up gender issues and demand interventions from government, because women’s organizations organize sectorally. • There has been a neutralization/depoliticization of the feminist project due to a shift in the gender discourse. This has also depoliticized feminist activism. Not all women’s organizations are feminist - how to bring feminism back into the gender project? • Men need space to organize and to discuss issues of masculinities. Men are not a homogeneous group and those who do not benefit from patriarchy also suffer. There should be a process of socialization to change attitudes of men and boys.

13. Drivers of persistent inequalities • Patriarchy and the specific forms it takes in South Africa • Power relations between men and women • Gender does not equal women: a discourse of gender that reduces equality to a numbers game has depoliticized feminist activism. Merely appointing more women to positions is not a feminist solution and formal equality does not equal substantive equality. • The technocratic use of gender mainstreaming (such as check boxes and events) has robbed gender mainstreaming of its radical potential to change institutional cultures and to include women’s concerns in policy and legislation. • The silencing and marginalization of feminism as a set of ideas, as well as feminist activism. Feminism reclaims a space for women, exposes power relations, and looks for interventions that will change these power relations.

14. Conclusion • The delegates collectively agreed on a Programme of Action (POA) that outlines interventions needed to address areas of concern going forward. • The POA identifies the actions and strategies to be implemented by relevant structures to address the challenges that continue to face the gender sector in the fight for gender equality and transformation. • The delegates and stakeholders further committed themselves to ensuring that the Programme of Action is implemented and that the structures responsible for implementation are monitored to ensure accountability. • The CGE was tasked with ensuring the full implementation of the Programme of Action, and for engaging with the NGM and the identified critical stakeholders.

15. Thank you CGE Tipoff: 0800 007 709 Email: cgeinfo@cge.org.za Twitter: @CGEInfo