Pretoria - More women should be encouraged to join the ranks of the South African National Defence Force, says Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
As part of activities to commemorate Women's Month, the Minister told a gender conference at Swartkop Air Force Base in Pretoria, on Wednesday, that many women did not do so due to the lack of communication on the work of the SANDF.
"Many women who could join and do well in the various services are not doing so, in part due to the fact that there is not enough and clear communication about the real work that is done in the military.”
She said the protection of the country’s sovereignty was no longer a male-only preserve.
“The general consensus is that also‚ to achieve long-term peace and stability both women and men need to be involved in the peace processes‚ peace negotiations and in the reconciliation processes,” Minister Mapisa-Nqakula said.
She said the defence department had a gender strategy which was based on social justice, human dignity, advancing human rights and fighting inequality.
Another impediment to women signing up for the SANDF was gender discrimination, an issue which remains a major problem in several social and economic settings, including at the workplace.
“The relative comprehensive legislation on non-discrimination means that in many cases the problem is ineffective implementation and enforcement of such policies and legislation hence we need to walk the talk and not only recruit but empower and promote more women in the force.”
Although South Africa’s force has the largest contingency of women in its deployments when compared to other counterparts in the continent the pace of gender empowerment remained slow.
"To date, gender integration has not yet reached the required levels we had anticipated, particularly in the higher echelons of leadership in the SANDF," the Minister said.
South Africa’s efforts to attract more women in the force have been acknowledged by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Office. It noted that more women are now actively involved in the provision of peace and security.
The Minister told SAnews since 1994 the total number of women in the force has increased from 16 251 to 22 687.
In terms of senior management breakdown, there are about five Major Generals and 35 are at the rank of Brigadier and Admiral.
“There is a need to focus on increasing women at decision-making level through mentoring, coaching and leadership training.”
The Minister was of the view that the approval of the Defence Review by the National Assembly gives the SANDF a great opportunity to realise the goal of gender mainstreaming.
The Defence Review 2014 asserts that the SANDF will be an equitable, broadly representative and gender aligned national asset. – SAnews.gov.za
