Parliament, Tuesday, 17 October 2017 - The Leader of the SA Parliamentary delegation to the 137th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly, Ms Thandi Modise, today participated in the gender parity debate titles "holding the purse strings: exercising oversight for the common good."
The Chairperson is leading a 7-member multiparty delegation to the crucial IPU Assembly currently underway in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Below is Ms Modise's presentation to the Panel discussion:
MARKING THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PLAN OF ACTION FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE PARLIAMENTS
Good day, Honourable Members and colleagues,
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa guarantees that no person may be unfairly discriminated against on grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.
This Constitution is anchored on popular participation of the people of all walks of life over decades of struggle,advocacy and negotiations, the freedom Charter and the Charter For Women's Rights.
Our National Development plan-which is in line with the Agenda 2063 vision-is also premised on equal access to education and training of all genders across the South African lives.
Parliament must approve the national budget.Our view is that Parliament has long engaged with the idea of gender budgeting and that it is now time to implement.In August 2017 our Parliament hosted an international women's conference:"Women Changing World of Work"—which adopted a declaration calling for Parliament's to ensure gender responsive budgeting is used as a tool passing and overseeing government budgets.
Our Parliamentary Budget office, our multiparty women's caucus,together with the two House committees of the women are at the forefront of our endeavour to reintroduce the gender-responsive budgeting. Hopefully all our parliamentary committees will be fully sensitised by the end of the current parliamentary term.
Since 2016 “She-Conquers” Campaign has been financed through our department of health to work with our department of Women, Education, Social Development and Justice etc to:
● decreasing infections in girls and young women;
● decreasing teenage pregnancy;
● decreasing sexual and gender-based violence;
● keeping girls in school until matric; and
● increasing economic opportunities for young women to try and wean them away from romantic engagements with older men.
South Africa has passed a range of laws to level the gender space- sexual offences act,. Our government tender system is actually slanted towards advantaging women. However the historical socialisation of our society may be the reason why women are failing to take advantage of the space both in the economic and Public Administrative platforms.
In conclusion, I want to remind all of us about our obligations towards CEDWAR. We must also be alive to the challenges of the fourth Industrial Revolution. We therefore need to review our technical capacity and put in place tracking systems to ensure effective implementation of all commitments.
We must not only educate the public about the rights and freedoms,we must also partner with civil society to ensure an agreed to intergrated national gender perspective.
Hon Members, I fully agree with our host, Mme Matvienko-the Chairperson of the Federal Council of Russian Federation, when she says" Is it not time to call on the UN to declare another Decade of Women. The reversal of some of the post Beijing gain. The worsening economic and conflict situations around the world affect our children's futures very negatively. We must be consistent on our March forward.
Thank you.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
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