Deny funding to political parties that don't comply with gender equality‚ says Commission
Political posts vacated by women should be filled by women‚ the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) has recommended. The Commission was revealing findings from its national report: “Women and Political Parties in South Africa‚” in Johannesburg on Monday. The 2014 study focused on five political parties and how women were represented in those parties.Vernet Napo‚ the deputy director for research at the CGE said there was a lack of gender equality in political parties despite South Africa having made commitment to a 50/50 gender representation in 2015.“The patriarchal and male-dominated societal structures make it difficult for women to enter the political process‚” said Napo.Napo said the issue of gender inequality would continue because South Africa did not have a legislated quota for women's representation.“The only [political] party that has voluntarily adopted a 50/50 representation quota system is the African National Congress‚” Napo said.Suggestions made by the CGE to curb gender inequality in political parties included the government legislating a 50/50 quota system for women's representation. Parties that violated this would see a cut in public funding allocation.Mfanozelwe Shozi‚ the chairperson for the CGE‚ said with the coming local elections political parties should revisit and change by-laws that were discriminatory towards women...
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