Report on delivery to women

19 April 2004

Foreword

In the African National Congress, we believe that we cannot say that we are progressing as a people and as a nation, unless the women of our country are truly liberated, and until we have reached a state of gender equality and gender equity.

Even as we consider the great advances made towards gender equality and gender equity over the past nine years, we need to be sensitive to the harsh realities that still face the majority of women in South Africa. It is women who bear the brunt of poverty. Their lives are still characterized by low levels of literacy and inequitable access to education, adequate food, health care, housing, and water and fuel sources. Moreover, many women are still subjected to various forms of violence on a daily basis, directed at them solely by virtue of their sex and gender. Women experience high levels of unemployment or underemployment, and in the case of domestic workers and farm workers, their working conditions are generally sub-human and their wages still unacceptably low. Women have minimal access to legal protection, formal justice and social security. And all of these struggles are amplified in the lives of those women who live in the rural areas and in informal settlements.

However, during the past nine years of our democratic government, we have strived to bring about real change. We have replaced unjust and inequitable legislation with laws that facilitate social transformation. And for the first time in the history of this country, gender equality and gender equity are included in the transformation agenda.

And there is still much that needs to be done. We rely on communities to articulate their aspirations and needs. We therefore consider this document to be work in progress. We trust that it will be read and discussed by women and men in communities all over our country. We welcome feedback and give you our assurances that your comments and criticisms will be fed into the processes of the work that we are doing.