Government is taking stock of how effective its gender equality and women empowerment efforts are at a meeting with Minister Bathabile Dlamini and stakeholders across the three tiers of government.
The meeting on Friday takes place as South Africa prepares to participate in the 63rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63), which will be held in New York in March 2019.
Today’s meeting, along with other initiatives such as Dlamini meeting with traditional leaders, is part of the legwork undertaken to prepare the country statement ahead of CSW63.
“Evaluating the country’s National Gender Machinery (NGM) will provide vital statistics to form part of the National Report to be tabled at CSW63.
“The National Gender Machinery encompasses all structures and institutions of the State, civil society and the private sector that have the common goal of gender equality and women’s empowerment,” the Department of Women said on Friday.
The Department of Women held a successful consultative forum with role players in the National Gender Machinery last month in Tshwane. Government, academia, Parliament, youth organisations, the private sector, independent bodies, the Gender Advisory Committee (GAC), gender experts and civil society organisations took part in the forum in January.
The consultative forum underway today seeks to further evaluate the capacity of South Africa’s institutional mechanisms for gender equality to meet its legislative as well as international commitments.
The Gender Advisory Committee (GAC) will also met today to continue with its work of doing a 25-year review on the advancements made towards attaining gender equality and empowerment of women. These engagements will build towards a Diagnostic Review Report, which gives an outline of the programming, organisational efficiency, and resource needs of various NGM structures.
The Consultative Forum of Gender Focal Points is being addressed by Minister Bathabile Dlamini; the Speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete and the Deputy Minister for Public Service and Administration, Dr Chana Pilane-Majake, among others. – SAnews.gov.za
