8 October 2022
PROGRESS MADE IN ACHIEVING GENDER PARITY BUT MORE STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE – NA SPEAKER
For soundbites from National Assembly Speaker, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, please click: https://iono.fm/e/1236732; https://iono.fm/e/1236735; https://iono.fm/e/1236737
Parliament, Saturday, 8 October 2022 – The National Assembly Speaker and leader of the South African delegation to the 8th P20 Speakers’ Summit in Indonesia, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, says world parliaments have made inadequate progress towards improving women’s representation in recent years and still have a long walk to achieving gender equality across the socio-economic spectrum.
Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula was delivering a keynote address on the last day of the two-day summit of Speakers of G20 countries from around the world, which was hosted by the Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives in the parliamentary precinct in Jakarta. “Women have come a long way in their struggles, not only for equality, but to also have their voice and inputs heard, both at home and in the workplace,” said Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula.
She made her address during a debate entitled “Social inclusion, gender equality, and women empowerment. She commended transformative legislation aimed at improving women’s participation and involvement in politics and the economy, but said the translation of legislation into pragmatic, meaningful changes in women’s lives “has not been forthcoming”.
Urging the P20 Speakers to accelerate the pace of change, Ms Mapisa-Nqakula said that the road remains “long and tedious”. She warned that the targets set in the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Agenda 2063 may not be attained unless all nations adopt different strategies to those that have gone before.
Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula acknowledged that Covid-19, the effects of climate change and economic volatility, which has increased economic insecurity in many parts of the world, have reversed progress achieved so far. She urged the P20 parliamentarians to multiply their efforts to achieve the targets set in the Beijing Platform for Action, to protect, advance and develop all women, including women parliamentarians across the world. She flagged challenges still facing girl children and women in general, including gender-based violence and child marriages that still afflict many nations.
She listed areas of progress in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and South Africa, including the representation of women in leadership and management positions and the adoption of the Model Law on Gender-based Violence to guide and align legislation and improve execution outcomes. The setting of a 50:50 quota for men and women representation across the spectrum has helped to achieve 46% women representation in Parliament, 62% in the public service, and 45% women among 256 judges. These achievements and the recent appointment of a women Deputy Chief Justice are commendable steps in the right direction.
Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula also had a third bilateral meeting with the Speaker of Azerbaijan, who is the current leader of the Non-Aligned Movement’s Parliamentary Forum, to discuss matters of mutual interests. Ms Mapisa-Nqakula and Ms Sahiba Gafarova agreed regarding her visit to South Africa in 2023 as part of strengthening relations to heighten the execution of the resolutions of the conference held in Azerbaijan recently.
Issued by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa
