Pretoria – Gauteng Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) says the department is working together with municipalities to ensure women are recognized and groomed for senior positions that were previously male-dominated.
“We are working together with bodies like the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency for the empowerment of women to become engineers, architectures, among others. A woman should have equal economic power,” said acting Head of Department, Deputy Director-General Willy Bhila.
Bhila was addressing a Women Empowerment Workshop held at Sol Tsotetsi Sports Complex, Sebokeng, on Wednesday.
The workshop organised by the department, through its Gender, Youth and Disability (GEYODI) Unit in conjunction with Sedibeng District Municipality, was aimed at empowering women on Integrated Development Planning (IDP) processes and the importance of public participation.
Bhila said the department ensures that things happen in the province and it is their job to contribute towards ensuring projects succeed, including empowering women.
He said the Southern African Institute of Learning (SAIL) has partnered with the department and offered 150 vouchers to enable the training of 150 women. SAIL will also conduct the training.
“We will ensure that the 150 women who are going to be trained and receive certificates are empowered further. We cannot have those certificates gathering dust at their homes.
“We will get the women together with Departments of Human Settlements and Economic Development to ensure the skills they will acquire during training are utilized effectively,” said Bhila.
Sedibeng District Executive Mayor Busisiwe Modisakeng said women are pillars of the society and the municipality recognises the contribution they make in empowering the community.
“It humbles me that 21 years into democracy, our government is continuing to contribute in ensuring that women are well positioned to take up leading roles. We need to work together as government and private sector to ensure we eradicate poverty and inequality amongst women.
“I am glad to mention that there are programmes in place to ensure this becomes a reality, this workshop being one of them. If we work together, we will ensure a better tomorrow for generations to come,” said Modisakeng. – SAnews.gov.za
