Ian Clayton
Women in South Africa have won “a victory” in terms of the laws passed by Parliament since 1994, but key legislative changes are still required, says Pregs Govender, chair of the parliamentary joint standing committee on the improvement of the quality of life and status of women.
The priorities she identifies are “a reflection of the political will of the first democratically elected Parliament and government to use power to address the issues that disempowered women under apartheid, ranging from access to land and water to domestic violence”.
The key legislative changes still needed are in relation to equality legislation, sexual offences, the customary law of succession, extending the Unemployment Insurance Act to cover domestic workers on maternity, recognition of religious marriages, access to legal aid and finalisation of the regulations to the domestic violence, maintenance and customary law Acts.
Govender, writing in the parliamentary committee’s second annual report, says these legislative changes will be focused on by the committee after the elections, though its researcher will be working on the necessary background in these areas during the parliamentary recess.
However, while there is broad agreement that at the legislative and constitutional levels South Africa has made enormous advances, the major challenges ahead centre on the issues of information, implementation and changing mindsets and attitudes. “Women need to know that they now have these rights, how to access them and what to do if they are denied any of these rights.”
Govender says most women in South Africa, married under customary law, were reduced to minors under apartheid: they could not own property, enter into contracts or legally represent themselves. Her committee had, therefore, prioritised changes to customary law on marriage and succession.
In relation to the domestic violence Act, the portfolio committee on justice had passed a resolution requiring the Department of Justice to table a document in Parliament within six months of the passing of the law, detailing the steps taken with a view to implementation of the legislation.
It also required the department to investigate “the desirability of creating an offence of domestic violence, including other offences that arise out of domestic violence such as stalking, harassment and certain forms of intimidation”. The report of this investigation has to be tabled in Parliament within six months of the commencement of the legislation.
Govender points out that the Legal Aid Board traditionally provided funding mostly to criminal cases and only in limited civil cases. “This has affected women’s access to justice. Within the civil allocations, legal aid has not been available for, among others, maintenance matters and the obtainment of domestic violence interdicts.”
The Legal Aid Board is being transformed and a draft Legal Aid Guide is being developed setting out which people qualified for legal aid, she says. “These reforms must ensure that women receive adequate access to justice.”
The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) is also being restructured. At present, women receive 45% of their previous salary for a period of 24 weeks as maternity benefits under the UIF Act.
Govender’s committee identified the need for proposals to increase maternity benefits under the Act and called for input from women’s organisations. “The exclusion of domestic workers from maternity benefits needs to be addressed and creative solutions found.”
Govender also discloses that Deputy Minister in the Deputy President’s Office Essop Pahad and Dr Ellen Kornegay of the Office of the Status of Women told her committee that a draft national gender document has been completed and is undergoing internal review. This document will be released as a Green Paper for consultation and input.
The departments of justice and water are two departments with gender policies and there are gender desks in all provinces, except KwaZulu-Natal. The Office of the Status of Women has a budget of R2,5- million, including donor funding of R1,5- million from the Danish government.
Govender says the challenge which faces her committee is how to manage a broad brief with very limited resources, but it has been effective in prioritising which changes to laws, policies and budgets are most strategic to improving women’s lives.
Resources are critical to implementing the “excellent constitutional, legislative and policy commitments of the first democratic government. The committee has thus focused a great deal of energy in working with and monitoring the finance ministry to ensure a gender perspective through necessary data, analytical tools and capacity being developed with the ministry and in all of the government’s work.”
Govender concludes by saying she hopes the annual report will be used by the new Parliament and the next committee to reflect on some lessons learnt over the past five years and to take forward the government’s commitment to improving the lives of the poorest women in South Africa.
An appendix to the report documents that 51% of the 1,4-million public servants in South Africa are women, but they only account for 25% of the highly skilled supervision group, 14% of management and 12% of senior management.