Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women

150 Chapter 12
Box 12.5
South Africa:
mainstreaming
gender concerns
Source: Baden 1999; Khan
2003; Unterhalter and
others 2004; GTZ 2004.
The postapartheid government of South Africa made gender equality one of the priorities
of the reconstruction process. South Africa’s constitution now guarantees equality
between women and men and provides for affirmative action to address gender inequalities
in public life. The Constitution takes precedence over customary law when the equality
clause and customary law conflict.
Several new laws have been introduced and existing laws revised to make them more
gender-sensitive. The Public Service Act of 1994 and the Labor Relations Act of 1995
removed discriminatory practices in public services and labor markets. Abortion was legalized
in 1996. The government also passed a law in 1993 criminalizing rape within marriage.
Gender concerns are fully mainstreamed into the government apparatus. South Africa
does not have a separate ministry of women’s affairs, but the Commission on Gender
Equality, provided for in the Constitution, monitors and evaluates government and the
private sector on gender, informs the public, and makes recommendations on laws and
policies. The Office on the Status of Women is responsible for developing national gender
policy, promoting affirmative action in government, supporting government bodies to
integrate gender in all policies and programs, and organizing gender training. Its power,
however, is limited because it is not directly involved in national policy, and many departments
see gender equality only in terms of personnel and internal workings.
In 1995 South Africa was one of the first countries to pioneer analysis of the national
budget from a gender perspective. The Women’s Budget Initiative was a collaborative
venture of women parliamentarians and women’s organizations to make the case for reallocating
expenditures and revenues to more adequately respond to the needs of women.
Of the many tools used for monitoring gender mainstreaming, this one has caught the
imagination of women’s movements worldwide.
Women’s organizations were very active in the antiapartheid movement and that activism
helped to bring about a number of the constitutional and legal changes described
above. Women’s organizations lobbied strongly for legalizing abortion and protecting
women against violence. They have also fought for women’s land rights and for prevention
and treatment of HIV/AIDS. However, the migration of many women’s activists into government
after 1994 weakened women’s organizations, particularly in rural areas, limiting
their ability to maximize the opportunities created by the national gender machinery.
Cambodia, Rwanda, and South Africa have all made significant progress in
the last decade in closing gender gaps in primary and secondary education and
improving key aspects of women’s sexual and reproductive rights and health.
However, despite improvements in maternal mortality and decreases in unmet
need for contraception, women in South Africa, Rwanda, and Cambodia have
been hit hard by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Among the four countries Chile
stands alone in opposing women’s reproductive rights. On women’s political
participation Rwanda and South Africa have achieved high levels of representation
of women at the national and local levels. Chile and Rwanda have taken
strong legal measures to address violence against women, and Cambodia has
added elimination of violence against women as an additional Millennium
Development target.