Manto Heads Powwow On Women's Ministry

The ANC's plans to create a special ministry for women and gender affairs came a step closer to being realised at a meeting in Pretoria on Monday, when gender activists and the government agreed that one should be established.

The ANC had resolved at its Polokwane conference in December 2007 that there should be a special ministry for women.

Gender activists said government programmes focusing on women had, to date, been "impractical" and lacked co-ordination and implementation.

They said the ministry should focus on eliminating gender-based violence as well as on labour issues, poverty eradication and the equal representation of women in the administration of government as well as in the private sector.

Minister in the presidency Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is driving the project and is understood to be keen to see such a ministry established, possibly after the elections.

The notion of such a ministry, which would probably be located in the presidency, was welcomed by women's groups at the meeting. But they also said there should be consultation on its establishment.

Tshabalala-Msimang said at the meeting that she hoped the debate would determine the ministry's structure and tasks. She expressed concern that there were not enough human and financial resources to launch the ministry.

Tshabalala-Msimang agreed that government programmes had not yielded the desired results when it came to focusing on women's issues.

"We need to assess the impact our government programmes on women have had," she said. "There are general calls for the establishment of this ministry. We are hoping to have it phased into government. In our view, the ministry would consolidate our gender machinery. We need to find the mandate for the ministry and, after that, we hope to co-ordinate all programmes that seek to advocate the cause of women in our country," said Tshabalala-Msimang.

Despite the government's having done well to foster women empowerment and women's rights, Tshabalala-Msimang said more needed to be done as challenges remained.

Once the mandate and the structure of the ministry had been completed, a report would be handed to President Kgalema Motlanthe, to be considered by the new administration after the elections.

The ministry would also have offices within premiers' offices in provinces, and a presence at local government in municipalities. The proposed structure of the ministry included a fully fledged staff made up of directors-general, deputies and chief directors at national level.

Tshabalala-Msimang said that research on the cost of setting up such a new ministry was under way.