Private sector still lags behind with gender transformation
THE private sector still lags behind when it comes to women in the workplace despite the government's policies which require every institution in the country to comply with gender equity.
Orlando Chauke
LIMPOPO – THE private sector still lags behind when it comes to women in the workplace despite the government’s policies which require every institution in the country to comply with gender equity.
This was according to premier Stanley Mathabatha during a Women’s Day celebration in Maruleng over the past weekend.
“While women representation in the public sector has improved significantly in the past 21 years of democracy, the major challenge still lies in the private sector where women are poorly represented in leadership positions,” he said.
“In this regard, we would like to call upon all companies in the private sector to ensure that women are allowed to play a meaningful role in the main stream of our economy,” he continued, adding that six out of 10 MEC’s in Limpopo were women.
The premier also urged men as the main perpetrators to fight against the abuse of women in the society, saying many women have experienced abuse, rape, and sexual harassment in their lifetime, and were stronger affected by the HIV and aids virus.
“If statistics are to go by, one in every three women has been either abused or coerced into sex in her lifetime,” he said adding that one woman was raped every twenty-six seconds in South Africa while one in four women were in an abusive relationship.
“These kinds of crimes cannot be policed because most of them happen in a comfort zone where everybody is believed to be safe.
“To win in this war, it needs all of us to stand up and work together throughout the 365 days of the year, not only on Women’s Day.”
The premier also indicated that he was aware of the alarming rise in the number of teenage pregnancies in the province, and has therefore taken steps to introduce teenage-friendly facilities in hospitals to deal with advisory matters to all youths.
“Through this approach, as a province, we hope that once our kids are well-informed, they would delay their sexual experience until they are old enough,” he said.
