South Africa’s performance at the Beijing Conference could suffer because of poor preparation, reports Marion Edmunds
The leaders of the South African delegation that will be going to the Beijing Conference next month put on brave faces this week, and said they were confident that South Africa would contribute meaningfully to the
But, at the first and possibly last pre-Beijing news conference in Parliament this week, the delegate leaders could only speak in broad terms about the conference, putting a positive spin on to preparations that are lagging behind deadlines and being held up by red tape.
Despite a great deal of work done, under difficult circumstances by a team of dedicated women, South Africa’s performance at the conference could be undermined by poor preparations.
The report to be presented to the conference, signifying how much South African women have advanced since the elections, is not yet finalised. Delegation leader Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma could not this week say when it would be ready.
Furthermore, a draft report indicating government commitments to women’s empowerment still has to go before Cabinet before the government delegation can present it at the conference, which starts in less than three weeks. Only half of the government departments have responded to appeals for commitments to plans of action empowering women despite the fact that they were meant to do this by the end of June.
Those who made commitments have often done so in vague terms. For example, the Department of Sport has on its list, the commitment to “promote the recognition by women of the intrinsic value of sports, which includes the enhancement of feelings of self-worth, self-esteem and confidence about their own capabilities.”
The department with the firmest plans is the Department of Justice, which has two women-related pieces of legislation under review, has drafted the Gender Equality Bill and is examining the harmonisation of South African law and customary law with regard to the rights of women.
Many departments are leaning on a commitment to eradicate internal gender discrimination as a sign of their commitment to gender equality. To date, this appears to satisfy the government delegation which is headed by Zuma, and the Deputy Minister of Welfare Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi.
While Zuma has joined the Beijing team only quite recently, Fraser-Moleketi has been battling for more than a year to define South Africa’s agenda for the conference and keep the country in line with international developments in women’s issues.
She has done the leg-work, flying to conferences all over the world, most recently in Addis Ababa and New York, to caucus over the Draft Platform of Action — a thick, unfaxable document which lays out what is needed to empower women.
The draft Platform of Action divides women’s woes and problems into 12 critical areas, which are dealt with separately in almost incomprehensible jargon. The critical areas include the problems of women and poverty, women and health issues and the plight of the girl-child.
Each “critical area” or topic outlines an aspect of women’s suffering and oppression. The statistics are chilling and indicate that there is a long way to go before women are equal to men — unfortunately the document is indigestible. There is a serious need for it to be interpreted and explained to the public.
To date, it has been extremely difficult to get clear and simple explanations from the government about Beijing. The NGO-sector has been active in providing information and workshops for those involved in women’s groups, but the average women in the street — let alone her husband, lover, father or brother — has remained ignorant about the Beijing Conference, what it entails and how it is meant to affect lives.