Women Empowerment
Women Training Programme for Effective Participation & Leadership Role within Governance Structures
Introduction
Women participation and leadership role in governance is imperative to good governance to ensure (i) demographic representation and participation of communities in legislative and policy making processes; (ii) representative articulation of needs towards human development; and (iii) contribution [pic]to government effectiveness and accountability.
Although there has been an improvement and recognition of the importance and role of women in governance in recent times, their role and participation has been limited by inadequate capacity, failure to recognize women skills and competencies by most governance structures and marginalizing institutional and cultural practices. Irrespective of the constitutional provisions, women still experience a hostile governance environment that hinders their effective participation and leadership role.
South African Context
Since 1994, the South African government has introduced policies, programmes and institutions to ensure women participation, emancipation and created opportunities for women development. For example, (i) gender equality is a fundamental tenet under the Bill of Rights of The Constitution of South Africa, and the country has adopted sophisticated rights-based legislation with explicit reference to gender equality; (ii) the South African government is a signatory to regional and international instruments that promote gender equality; (iii) gender considerations are integrated into government policies and programmes; (iv) In 2005 South Africa was the 11th country to launch the 50/50 campaign; (v) the Women Empowerment Unit was established to identify factors that hinders women full participation in the legislative making processes; (vi) Commission on Gender Equality was established; (vii) municipality Structure Act (1998, 11 (3) stipulate equal gender representation; the National
Introduction
Women participation and leadership role in governance is imperative to good governance to ensure (i) demographic representation and participation of communities in legislative and policy making processes; (ii) representative articulation of needs towards human development; and (iii) contribution [pic]to government effectiveness and accountability.
Although there has been an improvement and recognition of the importance and role of women in governance in recent times, their role and participation has been limited by inadequate capacity, failure to recognize women skills and competencies by most governance structures and marginalizing institutional and cultural practices. Irrespective of the constitutional provisions, women still experience a hostile governance environment that hinders their effective participation and leadership role.
South African Context
Since 1994, the South African government has introduced policies, programmes and institutions to ensure women participation, emancipation and created opportunities for women development. For example, (i) gender equality is a fundamental tenet under the Bill of Rights of The Constitution of South Africa, and the country has adopted sophisticated rights-based legislation with explicit reference to gender equality; (ii) the South African government is a signatory to regional and international instruments that promote gender equality; (iii) gender considerations are integrated into government policies and programmes; (iv) In 2005 South Africa was the 11th country to launch the 50/50 campaign; (v) the Women Empowerment Unit was established to identify factors that hinders women full participation in the legislative making processes; (vi) Commission on Gender Equality was established; (vii) municipality Structure Act (1998, 11 (3) stipulate equal gender representation; the National