Parliament, Tuesday 20 October 2020 – The Women’s Charter Review sessions will this week continue in Gauteng in the City of Johannesburg, Sedibeng and Westrand Metros. This session in Gauteng follows one which was held last week in the Tshwane and Ekurhuleni metros.
The sessions are further scheduled to take place later this week in the Eastern Cape province in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan and the Amathole and Chris Hani Districts.
Details of the sessions are as follows:
Gauteng Province
Date: Wednesday, 21 October 2020
Time: 10:00
Venue: Virtual Platform
Eastern Cape Province
Date: Friday, 23 October 2020
Time: 15:00
Venue: Virtual Platform
The sessions aim to review the Women’s Charter for Effective Equality, which South Africa’s first democratic Parliament adopted in 1994.
That charter had its origins in the Women’s Charter, which the Federation of South African Women (Fedsaw) adopted in April 1954. Fedsaw’s 1954 charter emphasised enfranchisement of all men and women; equal opportunities in employment; equal pay for equal work; equal rights in property, marriage and children; and getting rid of laws and customs denying women such equality.
The 1994 Women’s Charter is being reviewed to take account of the ever-increasing violence against women, including rape and femicide.
Sessions now underway aim to adopt a revised women’s charter – with concrete targets on policy, legislative changes and interventions – to remove historical and new structural, institutional and cultural barriers to achieving gender equality in our country.
The provincial district review sessions in provinces are scheduled to be followed by high-level sessions with local and provincial governments, which must present response plans to issues raised. Parliament will follow up on these plans to ensure implementation.
FOLLOW THE WOMEN’S CHARTER REVIEW SESSIONS
Media wishing to get a link to the tomorrow’s virtual session must send their mobile phone numbers to MrMlindi Mpindi at mmpindi@parliament.gov.za, using their official email addresses (no private emails).
Members of the public can also follow tomorrow’s Women’s Charter session and other parliamentary proceedings on the links below. If you subscribe to the Parliament’s YouTube channel you can get instant notification of live feeds.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParliamentofRSA
Facebook: https://facebook.com/ParliamentofRSA
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ParliamentofRSA
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
Enquiries: Moloto Mothapo
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