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STATEMENT OF NEED4 2.
2.3 Violence against women.
POLICY CONTEXT7 3.1 Constitution of the Republic of SA Act 108 of 1996 3.2 Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 3.3 Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000 4. PRINCIPLES9 4.1Equality between men and women 4.2Promotion of essential dignity 4.3Recognition of difference and inequality among women and men 4.4Women's rights are human rights 4.5Public and private are not separate spheres 4.6Focus on gender as opposed to women 4.7Mainstreaming gender equality 4.
5 Vision10 6 Objectives11 7 Strategies..............................................................................11 8 Terminology..........................................................................13 9 Acronyms.................................................................................15 1. Introduction.
"It is vitally important that all the structures of Government, including the President should understand fully that freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression."[President Nelson Mandela, opening South Africa's first democratically elected parliament on 24 May 1994].
Women make up more than half of the world's population, yet they still face gender, class, racial, and cultural discrimination. While there is a growing awareness of women's plight coupled with efforts made by the government, women's situation has worsened.
South Africa is perceived as one of the countries with a high incidence of gender-based violence (GBV), in particular, the physical type. GBV has reached epidemic levels in the country. According to research findings, South Africa has the highest ratio of reported rape cases per 100 000 people in the world. It is also estimated that one in six women is in abusive relationship and there is one woman who is killed by her partner every six days (Bollen,1999). Many young women report that men use violence when initiating sex with them. In a study conducted by the Women's Health Project, it was found that abuse by a partner or ex-partner increased by more than 50% between 1998 and 1999; the range of abuse included sexual, physical, economic and emotional (Jewks & Wood, 1998).
Violence in South African society had been inherited from apartheid regime characterised by social and economic inequalities, where state sponsored violence was used to maintain law and order (Human Rights Watch, 2001). The picture painted above has subjected women and girls to various forms of gender-based violence.
The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality (NMMM) has an estimated population of 1.2 million of which 52% is women. Despite being the majority, women continue to be underrepresented in decision-making structures in the NMMM, e.g. out of the eleven members of the Mayoral Committee, only three are women. Local government has a social and political responsibility to transform the status of women as the oppressed group and to bring them into the main stream of all its affairs.
Therefore, the overall purpose of this policy document is to provide with a framework that will serve as a guide for development and production of gender responsive programmes, projects, policies, and procedures within the NMMM. These will transform both the condition and position of women.
While there are some aspects of poverty and exploitation, which are common between men and women, many aspects are different. Women suffer various forms of discrimination and subordination based on social, sexual and cultural beliefs and attitudes -all these make them poorer than men. The effects of HIV/AIDS on women as mothers, carers and suffers cannot be undermined. Without proper analysis and consideration of these during any development intervention, it is unlikely that women's situation and condition would improve.
Women's low levels of education and training decrease their employment opportunities as a result the majority of them are locked in low paid jobs, reproductive work-related jobs such as domestic work or in low managerial positions. They are less likely to be in decision-making structures hence their voices remain silent. As breadwinners, carers and nurtures of their families the kind of salaries do not meet all their family needs. Poverty and crime go hand-in hand, which put women and girls' security at stake.
Even the NMMM policies that are meant to curb poverty, such as procurement policy, have limited impact on women's needs. Challenges such as low literacy levels amongst some of the women, make it impossible to understand tendering processes resulting in a lack of access to business opportunities. Women have less access to power, wealth and resources and are less likely to own property that is normally required when applying for business loans.
Along with many SA citizens, the NMMM is most concerned about lack of access to basic services such as health facilities e.g. reliable ambulance service, health care centres with adequate medical treatment, etc. As bearers of children, carers of the sick and aged, the above is perceived as a threat to women's security.
According to the research findings, 2 out of 3 HIV infected South Africans are women, 1 out of 4 women are HIV infected. It is easy for women to acquire HIV than it is for men due to their physiology. Due to their vulnerability to rape and unprotected sex, women are more likely to be infected by HIV as opposed to their male counterparts. The most critical issue here is that women do not have access to prevention treatment such as antiretroviral treatment, which can be given to raped victims, care and resources. Because of their societal roles, as carers, mothers and nurturers, HIV/AIDS impacts negatively on women's socio-economic development, as, for example, an HIV positive woman would sacrifice and spend her disability grant to other family needs such as food. Women as mothers of AIDS suffers, express frustration of poor or shortage of service in hospitals and clinics.
There is a general feeling amongst the NMMM women that high rates, such as service charges, water and electricity disadvantage poor women. Women believe that ward committees do not effectively represent women's interests hence their needs are not taken care of.
2.3 Violence against women [VAW].
It is factual that violence against women affects women directly and indirectly. Equality and rights enshrined in our Constitution cannot be enjoyed fully by women due to fear of violence, that is, at their homes and in the public sphere. VAW is a key developmental challenge that affects all aspects of life, it has a great potential of maintaining poverty cycle and compromise poor women quality of life.
The government, civil society organs, and NGO's are very active in attempting to prevent and or reduce this problem. It is well known that one of the reasons women stay in abusive relationship is economic dependence on the abuser.
The women's inability to visibly contribute economically. They, therefore, believe they cannot participate in decision-making in the home.
When they question decisions made by their partners they are seen as questioning the authority of the partner, which often result in a beating.
They are often forbidden to mix with other women, and if caught interacting with others they are often beaten.
They are expected to be home when the partner returns from work. Their absence from home when the partner returns results in beating.
One of the challenges facing both government and development organisations is to understand relevance of VAW to their core business. NMMM has, amongst its development priority areas in its Integrated Development Plan (IDP) document, is crime prevention but it does not have strategy to curb VAW.
The above picture shows that, for any NMMM development initiative to be gender-fair, change should be implemented in the economic, social, political and cultural spheres. For the NMMM, to beat poverty, energies should be directed towards its causes including gender inequalities.
The SA government has progressive Legislation in place, which is meant to prohibit and prevent all of the above.
3.1 The Constitution of the Republic of SA Act 108 of 1996 Cl.
Section 9 (5) states that no one may be unfairly discriminated against in respect of race, gender amongst others. The Constitution is a supreme law of the country and is instructive in preventing discrimination of women.
The Act outlaws any discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, gender, family responsibility, pregnancy, and HIV status. Its strategic trust lies on eliminating unfair discrimination with the aim of achieving diversity at the work place.
3.3 Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000.
The Act is an effort directed towards eradicating social and economic inequalities especially those that are systematic in nature, which were generated by colonialism, apartheid and patriarchy, which brought pain and suffering to the great majority of SA people. The main aim of the Act is to prevent and prohibit unfair discrimination and harassment; to promote equality and eliminate unfair discrimination; to prevent and prohibit hate speech.
The prohibited grounds of discrimination include both gender and sex. Section 8(a) makes reference to the gender-based violence scourge that includes rape, sexual abuse, domestic violence, all based on a person's gender. Generally, this kind of violence discriminates against women, as they are always victims and men perpetrators. Depending on its intensity, women may be hindered to be involved or develop intellectually, economically and physically because of the fear of violence. Reference is also made to female genital mutilation, which might have long term health effects such as struggling with child bearing and delivery, inability to enjoy sex. Discrimination that arises from customary laws, although there has been some kind of progress, it is still common to find women excluded from inheriting assets.
Reference is made to the girl-children who are still discriminated in as far as educational opportunities are concerned, they are the victims of reproductive work, that is, they do all the household work unlike boys.
Being denied promotion and career advancement opportunities because of one's sexuality, for example, a woman who is from maternity leave or about to go to maternity leave being excluded from senior positions is regarded as unfair. Negative perceptions towards female staff members who are perceived as people on transit who may not always be available due to pregnancy, is another form of unfair discrimination.
Both Employment Equality Act and Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act state categorically limiting access to social services or benefits such as health and social security, systematic inequality of access to opportunities by women as a result of gender division of labour are all unlawful.
3.4 The Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998.
The above Act is informed by values underpinning SA Constitution, the international obligations and commitments such as the right to equality and freedom and security. It is for those reasons that the Act provides for issuing of protection orders with regard to domestic violence. It also provides for its implementers with tools and measures that can enable them to be effective. This Act covers actual or threatened physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, psychological and economical abuse, as well as intimidation, harassment, stalking, damage or destruction of property, or entry into your home without your consent.
Despite all the tools in place intended to promote women's empowerment and elimination of gender discrimination, women still bear the brunt. It is vital to understand that violence against women constitutes an infringement of basic human rights, undermines women's self-determination including their ability to participate fully in and to benefit from development.
4.1 Equality between men and women The NMMM would create an environment where men and women would be able to participate equally, that would include removal of traditional barriers hindering women's active participation.
4.2 Promotion of essential dignity NMMM will work with both men and women in restoring women's dignity as humans. To achieve this, gender relations need to be transformed.
4.3 Recognition of differences and inequalities among women Women are not a homogenous group and their lives vary depending on the place in which they live as well as their age, social class, ethnic origin and religion. It is therefore crucial to consider the above in every step intended to redress gender imbalances.
4.4 Women's rights are human rights Women's rights are part and parcel of human rights enshrined in SA's Bill of Rights, which is a cornerstone of SA's democracy.
4.5 Public and private are not separable spheres of life Recognition of interrelatedness of private and public life, as many discriminatory practices against women are enacted in a variety of settings.
4.6 Focus on gender as opposed on women Changing women's status needs to be understood as the responsibility of both sexes. It is understood that development affect men and women differently and that it has an impact on relations between men and women. A focus on gender is required to ensure that women's needs (set in a broader context of class, race, ethnicity and religion) do not continue to be ignored.
4.7 Mainstreaming gender equality Women are poor due to their lack of access to material wealth, which is compounded by lack of access to power and resources. Mainstreaming gender into the core business of NMMM, would tackle the cause of women's poverty and injustice to the advantage of women as well as men. This principle would therefore encourage NMMM to adopt a gender perspective in transforming itself.
4.8 Affirmative action programmes for women.
Corrective measures through programmes targeting women, should be undertaken to redress gender imbalances and women's subordination. This means that, a plan, resources and benchmarks should be developed by the NMMM.
The NMMM community is free from male-dominated decision-making structures and feminised poverty.
To ensure that the rights of women and men are equally upheld and women are enabled to exercise their rights over their bodies and are protected from violence.
To ensure that gender needs, priorities and differences are considered and institutionalised into the NMMM business, policies and practices including Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
To confront the social and ideological barriers to women's participation and encourage initiatives to improve their status including basic rights.
To develop positive action that will promote the full participation and empowerment of women in existing and future programmes so as to ensure that NMMM's programmes and projects benefit men and women equally.
To promote access by women to key resources (e.g. employment opportunities especially in decision-making positions and start-up capital for business), services and facilities.
A. To strengthen the issue of gender equality, the NMMM would establish a Women's Forum (WF) consisting of women representatives from various sectors, e.g. Civil Society Organisations (CSO's), private sector, Trade Unions, Institutions of higher learning, political parties, Faith-based Organisations, NMMM Women Business Unit Managers, etc.
B. Each Business Unit within the NMMM has a gender focal person [GFP] whose main function would be to lead and monitor mainstreaming of gender within the Unit.
[a newly created post].
The gender co-ordinator would be accountable to the NMMM Executive Mayor, therefore, her/his office will be based at the latter's office.
The IDP of the NMMM has clear gender objectives, outputs, inputs including resources, indicators and means of verification.
The overall annual plan of each Business Unit has clear gender objectives, inputs including resources, outputs, activities and indicators.
Amongst the NMMM programmes and projects there should be an on-going action research focusing on gender equality.
There is clear plan of action and resources for empowering women official, women councillors and women ward committee members the main aim is to strive for 50/50 gender representation in the council, decision -making structures such as mayoral committee and senior management and ward committees.
Over and above women's caucus, there should be a structure within the council that will continuously assess and identify women's needs; monitor and assess performance of each Ward Councillor, portfolio Committee and Business Unit in as far its performance towards women's and girl-children's empowerment.
There should be a structure within the NMMM (Women's Forum - chaired by the gender co-ordinator)) that will look after women's gender needs, e.g. monitor and assess impact of affirmative action programmes, women's practical and strategic gender needs, etc.
As a way of promoting gender sensitivity and awareness, there should be resources allocated, and programme for capacity building for all councillors, officials and ward committees.
Each standing committee's report should have clear gender key performance indicators.
Appendix 1 8.
8.1 Empowerment - Purpose to empower women through greater self-reliance. Women's subordination not only seen as the problem of men but also of colonial and neo-colonial oppression. Emphasis in this approach is, while addressing immediate needs, long-term and structural needs should remain priority.
8.2 Gender - In this context, it refers to social roles allocated to men and women and their relationship. Such roles are conditioned by political, social, economical and cultural factors and characterised by unequal power relations.
8.3 Gender analysis-studying gender biases perpetuating gender inequalities in all sectors of society.
8.4 Gender awareness-in this context gender awareness refers to ability to have knowledge of the types of impact that development project would or have had on women; taking into consideration women's roles.
8.5 Gender division of labour-distribution of roles and responsibility according gender with an aim of entrenching the existing unequal power relations between men and women and stereotypes about men and women.
8.6 Gender equality-in this situation it refers to a situation where men and women have equal conditions for realising their full human rights and potential. This entails the identification and removal of the underlying causes of discrimination in order to give women and men equal opportunities, also, taking into consideration their differences.
8.7 Gender equity-transformation of existing gender relations in a more democratic direction by redistributing more evenly the division of resources, responsibilities and power between women and men.
8.8 Gender mainstreaming-is a process towards achievement of the goal of gender equality. It involves incorporation of gender considerations into policies, programmes and practices, so that before decisions are taken, an analysis is made of the effects on women and men respectively. Gender mainstreaming includes the routine consideration of gender issues in strategic planning exercises, the reflection of these in business plans and routine reports.
8.9 Programme-a programme is a course of action to pursue an objective or objectives that are part of a policy. Usually a programme has a number of closely-related projects or activities in pursuance of a particular objective. For example a programme of curbing violence against women, can have separate project such as, baseline study on behavioural attitudes and beliefs, training of law implementers such as SAPS officials, shelter for abused women and public education.
8.10 Condition of women-an intervention that seeks to improve women's immediate needs or practical gender needs such as provision of water, welfare and health care facilities.
8.11 Position of women-an intervention that seeks to transform unequal power relations between men and women, that is addressing strategic gender needs.