It’s been proven “in the hardest environments on the African continent”‚ Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Wednesday: “Women are as good as men in the military field.” The defence minister‚ in a Women’s Month address in Pretoria‚ said that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) “has the largest contingency of women in our deployments in the country and the continent”.This‚ Mapisa-Nqakula said‚ “has been acknowledged by the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Office”.“The protection and defence of our country’s sovereignty is no longer a male-only preserve. Women are now actively involved in the provision of peace and security‚” said Mapisa-Nqakula‚ who earlier in her address admitted there was still a lot of work to do.“Much as we have outlined a number of interventions in our Gender Mainstreaming Strategy in the (Department of Defence)‚ our progress and expression of commitment in institutionalising gender empowerment remains slow.”But‚ while the “level of integrating gender issues in our systems has not reach the required levels of satisfaction”‚ Mapisa-Nqakula said‚ and “you can be forgiven to think that as this is a male dominated organisation‚ we cannot integrate gender issues in the organisation‚ but the opposite is the truth”.These issues would be helped by the “final approval of and the endorsement the Defence Review by the National Assembly” as it asserts “that the SANDF will be an equitable‚ broadly representative and gender-aligned national asset”‚ Mapisa-Nqakula said.“Although gender inequalities continue to exist‚ the contextual backdrop within which they exist is completely different‚” Mapisa-Nqakula said.“Within the military milieu‚ the re-definition of the mandate of the UN peacekeeping operations now covers a vast variety of responsibilities. As a result‚ the concept of national security includes promoting human security.“The general consensus is that‚ to achieve long-term peace and stability both women and men need to be involved in the peace processes‚ peace negotiations and in the reconciliation processes.“Strangely enough‚ this is still not the case! Women‚ who make up more than half of the World’s population‚ are often excluded from these processes; despite the fact that‚ they are often the ones hardest hit by the consequences of war and conflict.”..