50/50 Bill Draft Bill Seminar (Date Changed)
The Gender Advocacy Programme [GAP] and the Women's Legal Centre [WLC] partners in the 50/50 Campaign are pleased to invite you to participate in a half day seminar on the 50/50 Bill Draft Bill on Wednesday the 8th of October 2008. The seminar will take place at Women's Jail Lekgotla Space Constitution Hill, 1 Kotze Street, Braamfontein from 09:00hrs to 13:00hrs.
This is the 2nd of a three part seminar series. The 1st Seminar was held in Cape Town on the 9th of July 2008, the 2nd Seminar will be held in Johannesburg on the 8th of October 2008 and the 3rd Seminar will be held in Durban on the 22nd of October 2008.
Since 2007, GAP and the WLC have worked on a draft 50/50 Bill as part of a coordinated Campaign strategy spearheaded by GAP to achieve 50/50 by 2015. The use of legal reform to level the playing field between all political parties at, during and between elections is part of a new strategy to achieve at least 50% of women in elected positions to influence outcomes for different groups of women and influence a pro women agenda.
The 50/50 Campaign works towards the transformation of women's representation and participation in all spheres of government to ensure that a critical mass of women in government impacts on outcomes for different groups of women. The Campaign advocates the use of legal quotas to legislate ‘at least' 50% participation of women in decision-making structures and other strategies to achieve this goal. The Campaign lobbies for the equal representation and empowerment of women to enable women to play a positive and dynamic role in bringing about social justice in South Africa and improving the lives of the most disadvantaged and dispossessed in society. The majority of these happen to be women. The 50/50 Campaign focuses on equal representation to create a more egalitarian society in which the divide between rich and poor is eliminated.
As you will see from the attached draft programme, the intention of the seminar is to take stock of progress and relevance of women's representation and participation, ignite the discussion on the use of legislation to attain gender parity in politics, examine how gender equality can be advanced in the debates surrounding elections, as well as to devise practical strategies for working towards ensuring positive impact for the lives of South African women through the use of legal quotas as part of a broader political, social and economic transformational agenda
For RSVP purposes, please email Tumelo Kgosimmele for the draft programme and your registration form, submit the form by Monday the 6th of October 2008 either by fax to Tumelo Kgosimmele on +27 21 465 0089 or please send your name and organisation to tumi [at] gender [dot] org [dot] za. Enquiries can be made to Tumelo Kgosimmele on +27 21 465 0197.
