President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the obstacles facing women, especially black African women, were poverty, slow growth of the economy and Covid-19.
DURBAN – President Cyril Ramaphosa said issues of inequality needed to be addressed in the country, citing unequal pay, where women were earning less than men while doing the same job.
Ramaphosa was speaking on Tuesday at a National Women’s Day event in Richmond in KwaZulu-Natal.
He cited as an example the national soccer teams Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana, and said there must be equal pay.
“It does not make political, economic and social sense for women to be underpaid.
“Women work hard day and night but they don’t get anything for it. Women are more likely to be unemployed than men,” he said.
He added that the obstacles facing women, especially black African women, were poverty, slow growth of the economy and Covid-19.
He said there would be a skills programme running from September to January 2023 in 11 districts in KZN to ensure better access to finance.
“We want entities like the Industrial Development Corporation, PIC and the National Empowerment Fund to make further resources available to women-owned businesses,” said Ramaphosa.
The president said gender-based violence (GBV) continued to be a pandemic and that it was a societal issue.
“GBV continues to be a stain on our celebrations today. Not a single day goes by without a woman being violated in this country.
“Women are so scared that they do not even feel safe walking in the dark,” he said.
Furthermore, Ramaphosa said it was immature for men to kill and abuse a woman once she said a relationship was over.
He said this had to stop. He said earlier this year they passed three important laws that would strengthen the fight against GBV and give victims greater protection.
“The new laws empower the police to enter the premises without a warrant and if necessary to arrest a suspect without a warrant. Police can also remove dangerous weapons from suspects. Complainants will be able to apply for protection orders online,” said Ramaphosa.
“New provisions expand the scope of the national register of sexual offenders and place a legal responsibility on all to report any sexual offence committed against vulnerable people.
“Furthermore, there are now far more stricter conditions under which a suspect may be granted bail.”
He said women can be anything they want to be in South Africa because the doors are open.
“We have made progress because more women are enrolled in universities and colleges. More females passed matric with distinctions than males; however, we still need to uplift women to the level where they are equal to men,” said Ramaphosa.
KZN’s first woman premier-elect Nomusa Dube-Ncube was also at the event and said it was important for her and her team to see what they could do practically to empower women.
“We know that we are told that poverty’s face is that of a woman and we understand that if we empower a woman she’s able to feed the whole family.
“It is going to be important for me and my team to see what we can do practically to empower women. It’s been 28 years into democracy and we are still talking about women empowerment,” said Dube-Ncube.
