Participating in Gender Forums can help us to focus on, and to really see, the impacts of gender, and other forms of discrimination more easily, and to identify ways to address them. Now to illustrate what I'm talking about, let's look very briefly at five of the key factors in women's lives that open them up to gender discrimination. I'm sure that you'll be able to identify with some or even all of them. Even so, our legal, medical and social services are still based on the idea of families that are composed of a man, a woman and one or more children. This is both alienating and impractical.
Women control less money than men do, and occupy less well paid segments of the workforce.
Women are much more likely than men to interrupt their careers due to child-care, care of elderly parents and other family responsibilities. These factors contribute to a persistent wage gap, with women earning an estimated, fifty to sixty cents for every rand earned by men. Fear of violence and the experience of violence limit the choices and expectations of many women in their homes, workplaces and communities. Many laws are drafted without considering the real life experiences of women. Consequently, they can unintentionally, but severely discriminate against women.