AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS WOMEN’S LEAGUE DELIVERY TO THE WOMEN   A Document for the ANC Women's League APRIL 1999

Contents

Foreword - by ANC Women’s League NEC Policy Sub-Committee

Introduction

Section 1: An Overall Picture of the ANC Government’s Achievements

Section 2: Achievements of Individual Ministries & Departments

Foreword

ANC Women’s League NEC Policy Sub-Committee

This document is a milestone.

In times gone by, when roads were measured in miles and not in kilometres, stones were placed at the side of the road and on those stones were painted the number of miles that had been travelled since the last town. Milestones were a part of every journey because they were clear markers along the way, that specific points had been reached. They were also guides to make sure that the road was still the right one.

In the case of this document, the journey is South Africa’s journey towards democracy. The road is the road towards the full and meaningful equality of women in South African society. The milestone that we have reached is a point where we look back over the present ANC government’s five years in office, and take stock of what precisely the government has delivered to the women of South Africa. What has the government done to take South African women closer to full and meaningful equality?

There is so much. The worlds of women in South Africa have changed indelibly since our first democratic election in 1994. And the deepest, most profound changes will, we believe, never be reversed.

Before the ANC came to power there was no gender equality to speak of. In their homes and social lives, almost all women were controlled to greater or lesser degree by their fathers, uncles, husbands or sons. In their working lives they were controlled by male supervisors or managers. Not all professionals and jobs were open to women, and those that were, still contained ‘glass ceilings’ above which women seldom, if ever, rose. In most, if not all aspects of life in South Africa, there were no women in decision-making roles.

Above all, in society generally and in government particularly, there was little or no room for a female perspective on life, and women’s real, lived experiences of the world were simply not considered in either planning or implementation. Women were virtually invisible.

In South Africa in 1999, women are highly visible. They are visible everywhere, from national parliament to local government and almost everywhere else as well. How did this relatively rapid transformation come about in South Africa?

I believe that the starting point was willpower - women’s willpower. Women joined the ANC Women’s League and other groups and organisations like it in order to stand together to do something about their frustrations, their problems and their general invisibility. Together, in our groups, we strategised and acted, over and over again, until our voices were eventually heard. And ultimately, our voices were also heard in the places where our Constitution was being written. That is one of our finest achievements.

Section 9 of our Constitution guarantees us equality and freedom from discrimination on the basis of sex or gender. This is the cornerstone of all that has been done subsequently. And as this document shows, much has been done.

• We have signed and ratified CEDAW - The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
• We have created a national gender machinery to ensure that we all stay on the road to end all forms of discrimination against women. This includes the Office on the Status of Women and the Commission on Gender Equality.
• 25% of our lawmakers at both the national and provincial levels are women
• 30% of our ministers and deputy ministers are women
• Laws that have discriminated against women are being repealed and replaced with laws and policies that will actively promote gender equality.
• A target has been set at 30% of women in senior management positions in government departments by the year 2000

This and much more is reflected in this document. Here we take stock of our achievements to date. Each government department has set out its milestones so that we can celebrate what we have done, and what we are doing.

On behalf of the Policy Sub-Committee of the ANC Women’s League National Executive Committee we want to say thank you to each and every person who has contributed to the achievements that you see reflected here. We have much to celebrate. We hope and trust that all the members of the League will now go forward and use this information to inform other women about these achievements. Tell people about the delivery to the women that has already taken place, and then use it as a toll for drawing more and more women into full participation in the democratic process.

Introduction

Since the ANC came into power in the April 1994 elections, it has undertaken a systematic approach to achieve gender equality in line with constitutional commitments. This document sets out the achievements of the ANC government since 1994 in terms of its delivery of election promises and commitments to women.

Section 1 outlines the government’s achievements to date.

Section 2 examines the achievements of each department and ministry. Each of these is dealt with in two parts:

• Internal achievements (within the ministry and department)
• Achievements for South African women (generally)

Where applicable, each part deals with the following, indicated by the following symbols:

Contents   Section 1   Section 2