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WOMEN IN BUSINESS SUMMITIn the first democratically electedSouth African Parliament in 1994,former President Nelson Mandelaset the agenda for addressing therights of women in a post-apartheidSouth Africa by saying “freedomcannot be achieved unless womenhave been emancipated from all formsof oppression”. These powerful wordsof our Madiba are still as real today asthey were in 1994.Today, South Africa is still one ofthe most unequal countries in theworld. Its Gini coefficient, whichmeasures inequality, is the worst ofall the countries reported on againstthe World Bank’s developmentindicators. Deep inequality, of course,goes hand in hand with high levelsof unemployment, social instabilityand, often, deadly conflicts. Often,people don’t fight because they differon political ideology, but because ofconflict between the haves andhave-nots.Unfortunately, unemploymentis concentrated among particularpopulation groups – black people,youth and women. Although there hasbeen progress in South Africa since1994, women still occupy the lowerranks of the economy. We have seenprogress in terms of fast-trackingwomen’s entry into our boards,especially in state-owned enterprises,but we still have huge gaps in termsof bringing disempowered women tothe fore.We come from a history where,mostly because of the discriminatorylaws of the country, the majority ofblack people did not have access tothe kinds of qualifications that equipthem with so-called critical skills. Asa result, even though the majorityof them may be qualified, thesequalifications do not enable them toaccess the available jobs or help thecountry’s economy grow. Governmentis seeking to address these challenges,and has recognised the need to drawgreater numbers of people into theeconomic mainstream through avariety of support measures.These measures are contained inthe national economic strategy, withone of its pillars being making oureconomy inclusive. Government’s NewGrowth Path, which was adoptedin late 2010, aims to combine theregulatory framework and measuresto sustain overall economic growth –including improving infrastructure,education and health – with targetedefforts to support job-creatingactivities. It also unpacks the sectorswith the potential to create jobsand where we should concentrateour energy, such as infrastructure,the green economy, social economy,productive sectors such as agricultureand agro-processing, manufacturingand minerals beneficiation.This New Growth Path is a stepforward in terms of governmentplanning, because it allows national,provincial and local governmentto share projects, to cooperate andcoordinate. It articulates the need forus to achieve a common vision as asociety, so that all of us – the publicas well as the private sector, theunions as well as civil society – willwork together to achieve our goal ofcreating five million jobs by 2020.Secondly, there is the issue ofaccess to credit and finance. As muchas we see progress in terms of policy,vulnerable people at grassrootslevel are still struggling to accessdevelopment finance. Especially fromwomen’s groups, the general feelingis that the criteria should at least berelaxed to take into account that mostapplicants can only ever become activein the economy through the assistanceof this finance. Therefore, we need tocontinue to apply our minds to howbest to structure this, so that thosewho deserve it the most, access itwith ease.The third area is support for smallbusinesses. It is vital that, in thiscountry, we drive the economy aroundsmall and medium enterprises.Looking at what happened in othercountries in a similar position –Asian countries in particular – themajority of people entered thefold through small and mediumenterprises. There had been all sortsof recommendations as to what needsto be done to improve small-businesssupport. However, in the main, weneed more business incubators thatare coordinated, appropriately runand properly resourced, with a sectorfocus. We all know that women havesucceeded and excelled in politics,but there are challenges in sectorswhere skills and expertise are needed.Business tends to be a harsh andcompetitive terrain for new entrants,and they usually do not do very well.Let us therefore renew our commitment to the vision ofachieving a non-sexist and non-racial society, in whichwomen are equal and active partners.Through incubators, therefore, we canafford newcomers the time to matureand to prepare themselves to standon their own feet. A unified nationalmentorship programme shouldalso be explored, aligned with anational development plan outliningwhat our priorities are, so that all theavailable resources can be correctlychannelled. We constantly need toreview our regulations, and see towhat extent we can facilitate theentry of those who are stillvulnerable.Women empowerment forms thecornerstone of many of Government’spolicies. But we know that that isnot enough; more needs to be done totransform our society into one wherewomen have equal power and pullat all levels. We know that it is inthe interest of all of us to make surethat each and every citizen has anopportunity to contribute; that is theonly way in which we can grow theeconomy of this country. We need toensure equal opportunities for girlsand young women, so that they canbegin to unlock the future. If wedo not empower them sufficiently,we are in effect closing down theirfuture and limiting the growth of thiscountry. Let us therefore renew ourcommitment to the vision of achievinga non-sexist and non-racial society,in which women are equal and activepartners. ✥Progressive women in business 19