The launch of the Ministry of Women in South Africa may be a
welcome change – a streamlined ministry may be just the right thing for a
country groaning under the weight of sexism and gender violence.
A Ministry of Women is regarded as one of the most marginal ministries, vying for bottom spot with Arts and Culture. Why should this be so? True, these Ministries are not the ones who influence economic policy or command huge budgets. But the gender ministry, insofar as it seeks to reverse the oppression of women and girls, addresses the needs of more than half the population. And Arts and Culture – amid the trauma, dehumanisation and alienation that haunts our dreams – has the potential to help us find the soul within us.
The minister of this new portfolio has immense opportunity to make a difference on critical issues. I propose several strategies.
The new ministry should approach gender as a crosscutting issue. In this regard, it does not require a huge staff complement and a budget running into billions. It can use the crowbar effect – using innovative strategies and minimal resource to bring about great shifts. It can work with other Departments to help them use their much larger budgets in a manner that advances gender equality and better addresses the needs of women and girls.
The ministry can, for example, intervene by using gender planning, a method pioneered by Caroline Moser. It can require that all government departments submit all major plans to this Ministry for assessment from a gender perspective.
Gender planning does not try to dictate to other line departments. It offers itself as a resource. The idea is to work more intensively with willing departments, while keeping an open line of communication with others. Working in this way gains traction through the success stories and role models that show how proper accounting can change the position of women, propelling them into the forefront of socio economic development.
It can also hold public hearings on specific gender issues, for example the rise in violence against women and girls, raising awareness and seeking solutions from interested and affected persons. Such studies and hearings can be undertaken in partnership with the Gender Commission.
Decisive and strategically effective gender work that empowers women can be undertaken with a lean staff complement. Capacity can be sourced in, as government often does with legal teams and auditing firms. In this regard, the Gender Ministry can complement its own staffing capacity by using gender specialists based at universities or in other parts of civil society.
Doing gender work in government will have setbacks – and in this case may or may not receive backing from the big men in the Presidency who may be uninterested or otherwise occupied. But it is not impossible. A great advantage is that most departments claim to properly address the needs of women and girls and to reverse marginalisation. The problem is that the reality of non achievement is often masked behind planning systems that don’t allow them to face up to what is and what is not achieved. A good place to start, therefore, is to offer to help a few line departments do gender work more effectively and with demonstrable impact.
Frank Meintjies
This article appeared in The New Age on 6 June 2014.
But to get the Ministry working as a high
performance unit will first require that we – both the public and those who
will work in it – get over prejudices and inferiority complexes about a gender
ministry.
A Ministry of Women is regarded as one of the most marginal ministries, vying for bottom spot with Arts and Culture. Why should this be so? True, these Ministries are not the ones who influence economic policy or command huge budgets. But the gender ministry, insofar as it seeks to reverse the oppression of women and girls, addresses the needs of more than half the population. And Arts and Culture – amid the trauma, dehumanisation and alienation that haunts our dreams – has the potential to help us find the soul within us.
Minister of Women in the Presidency Susan
Shabangu could do a lot worse than adopt the Kader Asmal approach. The late
minister took the Ministry of Water Affairs, then seen as marginal, and made it
a star department. He simply tackled his job with vigour; concentrated on
outcomes and ensured his top officials built a department with capacity for
focused delivery. The Ministry regularly received an A in end-of-year newspaper
assessments.
The minister of this new portfolio has immense opportunity to make a difference on critical issues. I propose several strategies.
The new ministry should approach gender as a crosscutting issue. In this regard, it does not require a huge staff complement and a budget running into billions. It can use the crowbar effect – using innovative strategies and minimal resource to bring about great shifts. It can work with other Departments to help them use their much larger budgets in a manner that advances gender equality and better addresses the needs of women and girls.
The ministry can, for example, intervene by using gender planning, a method pioneered by Caroline Moser. It can require that all government departments submit all major plans to this Ministry for assessment from a gender perspective.
Using a gender lens to evaluate a plan means
assessing whether the plan, when referring to stakeholders or beneficiaries, clearly
spells out whether women or men will have most of the action. It calls for terms
like community, entrepreneurs, beneficiaries and the poor to be broken down to
clarify what percentage of men and women are included in these target groups.
Once such information is known the principals in each department – the Ministers,
Directors-general and others – can better assess whether such plans comply with
our constitution and truly advance equality or improve the position of women in
society.
Gender planning does not try to dictate to other line departments. It offers itself as a resource. The idea is to work more intensively with willing departments, while keeping an open line of communication with others. Working in this way gains traction through the success stories and role models that show how proper accounting can change the position of women, propelling them into the forefront of socio economic development.
Apart from assessment of plans, the
Department of Women can initiate studies into selective areas of public life.
For example, it can:
§ assess the work of the prosecuting authority in relation to gender
violence cases, examining aspects such as success rates and relevant capacity.
§ commission studies into the media and how women are portrayed,
paving the way for constructive recommendations.
§ probe the situation in, for example, the mining sector and examine
whether there are specific impacts on women and girls and call for gender-aware
social changes.
§ launch a review of the current position and ongoing grievances of
women who testified at the Truth Commission and who maintain that government
has reneged on commitments made to them.
It can also hold public hearings on specific gender issues, for example the rise in violence against women and girls, raising awareness and seeking solutions from interested and affected persons. Such studies and hearings can be undertaken in partnership with the Gender Commission.
Decisive and strategically effective gender work that empowers women can be undertaken with a lean staff complement. Capacity can be sourced in, as government often does with legal teams and auditing firms. In this regard, the Gender Ministry can complement its own staffing capacity by using gender specialists based at universities or in other parts of civil society.
Doing gender work in government will have setbacks – and in this case may or may not receive backing from the big men in the Presidency who may be uninterested or otherwise occupied. But it is not impossible. A great advantage is that most departments claim to properly address the needs of women and girls and to reverse marginalisation. The problem is that the reality of non achievement is often masked behind planning systems that don’t allow them to face up to what is and what is not achieved. A good place to start, therefore, is to offer to help a few line departments do gender work more effectively and with demonstrable impact.
Frank Meintjies
This article appeared in The New Age on 6 June 2014.
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