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Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill [B-2012]Public HearingPortfolio Committee: Women, Children and PLWD

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Presentation Content

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• Born into the new democratic South Africa and as such embraced government’s policies to contribute to building an economy that is premised on• Inclusivity• Fairness• Equality

• Unwavering commitment to both gender equality and women empowerment• From junior management to senior top management, women representation ranges between 42%

to 55%

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• Definitions• The Bill should establish criteria for ‘designated’ private or public bodies. • The Bill should define ‘decision making structure’ – This is important as the requirement of 50%

representivity of women applies to this term.• Meaning of ‘decision making positions and structures’ which may differ substantially between public

and private bodies.

• Clarity• How long after a designated body has submitted its strategy/plans may the Minister request a

progress report• Expectations on Social Development for designated private bodies

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•Other related legislation• The Bill must align to the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Act and the Employment Equity Act

(EEA).• Clarity around alignment of the provisions of this Bill with other gender equity related legislation

• Duplication of structures, reporting and monitoring• Increased costs for designated bodies and the government due to duplication.• The EEA and this Bill state they will be the overriding legislation relating to the subject.• Targets must align with other related legislation

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• Established governance structure exists in respect of EEA and BBBEE monitoring and reporting:

• BBBEE audit agencies appointed and in place• EEA reporting established

• Increased burden on government and designated bodies if new monitoring and reporting structures and requirements introduced

• Enforcement provision reference to ‘any dispute resolution mechanisms’ requires clarification

• Consequences of non-compliance requires clarification

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•Consideration should be given to:

• Definitions• Clarification of definitions and terminology used in the bill

• Alignment• General alignment of gender equity related legislation

• Monitoring and Reporting• Integration of plans/strategies, monitoring and reporting for EEA and WEGE requirements – avoid

duplication• General

• Targets being contained in codes rather than the legislation• Targets linking to demographics of the economically active population• Government’s responsibility towards healthcare and education • Clarify extent of Ministerial powers to achieve objectives of bill by notice in Gazette • Enforcement provision clarification

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THANK YOU