barometer chap 4 fin - peacewomensadc gender protocol baseline barometer 99women missing from...

“Ntkozo” Anushka Virahsawmy

CHAPTER 4

Articles 15-19

• Women only constitute 18% of government economic decision-makers in the SADCregion; in some countries this is considerably lower. For example in Mauritius thereare no women in economic decision-making. There is only one women financeminister (in Namibia) in the SADC region.

• Time use studies have only been conducted in four out of the 15 SADC countries.• Trade policies are mostly gender blind. Only a few procurement policies make specific

reference to women.• Women still struggle to access credit although most SADC countries now have

programmes of one kind or another to assist women in accessing credit.• Women continue to predominate in the informal sector.• Figures on land ownership are patchy, but range from 11% in Seychelles to 46% (in

Botswana). However the land holdings of women are much smaller than those ofmen.

• There are huge gaps in the per capita income of women and men. For example inSouth Africa the per capita income of women is 45% that of men.

• All SADC countries have maternity leave but only 40% have paternity leave.

SADC Gender Protocol Baseline Barometer 95

Market stall woman Photo: Gender Links

Economic Justice

KEY POINTS

SADC is an economic regional grouping. It istherefore no surprise that some of the most farreaching provisions of the Protocol relate toproductive resources and employment.

Despite widespread acknowledgement of thelinks between economic development and genderequality, and the number of international andregional commitments that governments in SADChave made towards equality, many challengespersist. Few countries considergender dimensions in economicpolicies, budgets, trade, work andbusiness, and few policy anddecision-makers understand theextent that gender inequalitiesharm development.

Traditional economic perspectivesare very narrow. Conventionalmacro-economic policies andperspectives are gender blind,failing to recognise that:• Women’s potential contribution

to economic development issystematically discouraged,adversely affecting the econo-mic health of the region;

• Women's contribution to theeconomy is systematically under-estimated;

• There is an informal and hiddeneconomy made up mostly ofwomen;

• There is an unpaid care economy in whichwomen do most of the work of maintainingthe labour force and keeping the social fabricin good order, maintaining social cohesion,civic responsibility and good neighbourliness;and

• Non-market processes contribute to the“healthy functioning” of the economy.

The lack of recognition of women’s work leadsto lack of public investment in the areas wherewomen are concentrated, such as the informalsector employment, rural subsistence production,domestic “reproductive” work or the careeconomy and voluntary community work. Genderinsensitive policy choices marginalise women,reinforce poverty and result in the failure to

exploit this powerful human resource. Economicempowerment for women is not just aboutspending power. Economic empowerment meansmore opportunities. It can mean keeping childrenin school, getting health care, and even theoption to leave unhealthy or violent relationships.

In SADC, ensuring women’s access to productiveresources, employment and economic empower-ment requires specific and focused attention to

reviewing current economicapproaches, and allocatingbudgetary resources foreducation, training, skillsand the entrepreneurialdevelopment of women.These are necessary toimprove the lives of aspirantbusiness women and topromote the overa l leconomic empowerment ofwomen. In order for this tooccur in a measurable andsustainable manner, astrategic rethinking offrameworks of fiscal policy,publ i c f inance, debtsustainability, trade reformand access to credit and landis critical.

Increasingly, fiscal, mone-tary and empowerment

policies are no longer the sole preserve of SADCpolicy makers but are becoming interlinked withmultilateral trading system, global finance andglobal macro-economic arrangements.

Unequal access to, and control over productiveresources and social services such as health andeducation; skewed distribution of remuneratedand unremunerated work; and inadequatesupport for women’s productive activities andentrepreneurship are some of the major causesof the number of women living in poverty.Women often struggle to access property andresources, especially where customary practicesprevail on their rights and liberties. Genderbudgeting initiatives have yet to fully take rootin the region.

96 SADC Gender Protocol Baseline Barometer

The lack of recognition of women’s work leads to the lackof public investment Photo: Gender Links


The Protocol contains a number of important articles relevant to economicjustice and empowerment. It provides that State Parties shall by 2015:• Ensure equal participation by women and men in policy formulation and

implementation of economic policies;• Ensure gender responsive budgeting at the micro and macro levels including

tracking; monitoring and evaluation; Conduct time use studies andadopt policy measures to ease the burden of the multiple roles played bywomen;

• Adopt policies and enact laws which ensure equal access, benefits andopportunities for women and men in trade and entrepreneurship, takinginto account the contribution of women in the formal and informal sectors;Review national trade and entrepreneurship policies, to make them genderresponsive; Introduce affirmative action measures to ensure that womenbenefit equally from economic opportunities, including those createdthrough public procurement processes;

• Review all policies and laws that determine access to, control of, and benefitfrom, productive resources by women; and

• Review, amend and enact laws and policies that ensure women and men have equal access to wageemployment in all sectors of the economy. It also provides for equal pay for equal work; eradicationof occupational segregation; maternity and paternity benefits.

Politics and the economy are closelyintertwined. Governments determineeconomic policies and practices, andeconomics gives power to those in leadershippositions. There are quantitative argumentsfor gender balance in representation indecision-making. Women have a “right” torepresentation. But there are also qualitativearguments for balance. Although womenare not all the same, there are certain issuesthat they feel more strongly about than menbecause of their lived experiences. It isgovernments that plan for development,and allocate the needed resources to makethese plans happen. Economic justice startswith ensuring that these resources andstrategies adequately serve these needs.

Women and men in economic decision-making

Gender benders in Madagascar... a business woman puts her feet upPhoto: Colleen Lowe Morna

The Protocol provides that state parties shall, by 2015, ensure equal participation bywomen and men in policy formulation and implementation of economic policies.

Women often do not own the land theywork Photo: Trevor Davies


19M

inis

ter

of

Plan

nin

g20

Min

iste

r o

f Pu

blic

Ad

min

istr

atio

n, E

mp

loym

ent

and

So

cial

Sec

uri

ty; D

epu

ty M

inis

ter

of

Pub

lic A

dm

inis

trat

ion

, Em

plo

ymen

t an

d S

oci

al S

ecu

rity

; Min

iste

r o

f C

om

mer

ce; M

inis

ter

of

Geo

log

y an

d M

ines

; Min

iste

r o

f Pe

tro

leu

m21

CEO

Bo

tsw

ana

Tou

rism

Bo

ard

, CEO

BED

IA22

Min

iste

r O

f La

bo

ur

and

Ho

me

Aff

airs

23Po

rtfo

lio M

inis

ter

24Ec

on

om

ic A

dvi

sor-

Cab

inet

; Cab

inet

Su

b-C

om

mit

tee

25Ib

id.

26G

ener

al M

anag

ers

wit

hin

th

e M

inis

try

of

Eco

no

my,

Ind

ust

ry a

nd

Tra

de

27G

ener

al M

anag

ers

wit

hin

th

e M

inis

try

of

Fin

ance

(7)

; G

ener

al M

anag

ers

wit

hin

th

e M

inis

try

of

Eco

no

my,

Ind

ust

ry a

nd

Tra

de

(1)

28M

inis

ter

of

Fore

ign

Aff

airs

, Reg

ion

al In

teg

rati

on

an

d In

tern

atio

nal

Tra

de;

Sec

reta

ry f

or

Fore

ign

Aff

airs

; Min

iste

r o

f B

usi

nes

s, E

nte

rpri

se a

nd

Co

-op

erat

ives

; Min

iste

r o

f La

bo

ur,

Ind

ust

rial

Rel

atio

ns

and

Em

plo

ymen

t29

Perm

anen

t Se

cret

ary/

DG

30M

inis

ter

of

Min

es a

nd

En

erg

y; D

epu

ty M

inis

ter

of

Min

es a

nd

En

erg

y; P

erm

anen

t se

cret

ary/

DG

31C

EO -

Sey

chel

les

Inve

stm

ent

Bu

reau

32M

inis

ter

of

Envi

ron

men

t an

d N

atu

ral R

eso

urc

es; C

EO -

Sey

chel

les

Inte

rnat

ion

al B

usi

nes

s A

uth

ori

ty33

Min

iste

r o

f Pu

blic

En

terp

rise

s; M

inis

ter

of

Min

ing

; Dep

uty

Min

iste

r o

f Ec

on

om

ic D

evel

op

men

t34

Dep

uty

Min

iste

r o

f Pu

blic

En

terp

rise

s; M

inis

ter

of

Nat

ion

al P

lan

nin

g C

om

mis

sio

n35

Swaz

ilan

d In

vest

men

t Pr

om

oti

on

Au

tho

rity

– C

EO; F

eder

atio

n o

f Sw

azila

nd

– C

EO36

Min

iste

r o

f N

atu

ral R

eso

urc

es a

nd

To

uri

sm37

Dep

uty

Sec

reta

ry M

inis

ter

of

Fin

ance

; Dep

uty

Min

iste

r o

f N

atu

ral R

eso

urc

es a

nd

To

uri

sm; M

inis

ter

of

fo

r A

gri

cult

ure

, Fo

od

Sec

uri

ty a

nd

Co

-op

erat

ives

; Dep

uty

Min

iste

r38

Cit

izen

Eco

no

mic

Em

po

wer

men

t (C

EEC

) D

G; P

erm

anen

t Se

cret

ary

of

Hea

lth

39C

itiz

ens

Eco

no

mic

Em

po

wer

men

t C

om

mis

sio

n (

CEE

C)

Ch

airp

erso

n; M

inis

try

of

Hea

lth

; Dep

uty

Min

ster

of

Hea

lth

Tab

le 4

.1: W

om

en

an

d m

en

in

eco

no

mic

deci

sio

n-m

akin

g

FM

Min

iste

r of f

inan

ce

Dep

uty

min

iste

r of

finan

ce

Perm

anen

tse

cret

ary/

DG

Min

iste

r of E

cono

mic

Plan

ning

Dep

uty

Min

iste

r of

Econ

omic

Pla

nnin

g

Perm

anen

tse

cret

ary/

DG

Min

iste

r of T

rade

and

Indu

stry

Dep

uty

Min

iste

r of

Trad

e an

d In

dust

ry

Perm

anen

tse

cret

ary/

DG

Gov

erno

r of t

he c

en-

tral o

r res

erve

ban

k

Dep

uty

Gov

enor

of

the

rese

rve

bank

Oth

er k

ey p

erso

ns in

deci

sion

-mak

ing

TOTA

L

PER

CEN

TAG

E

1 1 221 4 44

Angola

Botswana

DRC

Lesotho

Madagascar

Malawi

Mauritius

Mozambique

Namibia

Seychelles

South Africa

Swaziland

Tanzania

Zambia

Zimbabwe

2009

2009

2008

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

2009

FM

FM

FM

FM

FM

FM

FM

FM

FM

FM

FM

FM

FM

FM

1 1 1 1 122 5 56

123 0 0

1 1 1 1 1 1 6 100

n/a 1 224 3 21

1 n/a 1 1 1 1 1 525 11 79

226 2 13

1 1 1 1 1 1 827 14 87

1 1 2 18

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 82

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a 0 0

1 n/a 1 1 n/a

n/a 1 n/a 1 1 n/a

428 10 100

1 n/a 1 n/a 2 22

1 1 1 1 1 1 n/a 1 n/a 7 78

1 1 129 3 25

1 1 1 1 1 1 330 9 75

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a 1 131 2 20

1 n/a 1 1 n/a 1 1 n/a

n/a 1 232 8 80

2 333 5 33

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 234 10 67

1 1 235 4 40

1 1 1 1 1 1 6 60

1 1 136 3 21

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 437 11 79

1 238 3 23

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 339 10 77

1 1 2 20

1 1 1 1 1 1 2 8 80

1 1 119 3 19

1 1 1 1 1 2 1 520 13 81

Total F 1 2 0 0 0 2 4 3 3 1 5 18 38

10 7 9 7 3 5 8 6 5 11 6 37 137

9% 22%

0% 0% 0% 29%

33%

33%

38%

8% 45%

33%

18%

91%

78%

100%

100%

100%

71%

67%

67%

62%

92%

55%

67%

82%

Total M

% F

% M


Women missing from economic decision-making: Table 4.1 shows that overall womencompromise 18% of all economic decision-makersin governments (defined as minister and deputyminister of finance, permanent secretary/DG;minister and deputy minister of economicplanning; permanent secretary/ DG; minister anddeputy minister of trade and industry; permanentsecretary/DG; governor and deputy governor ofthe reserve bank and other key persons. If womendo not sit at economic decision-making tables,it is unlikely that they will feature strongly ineconomic policies. Recognising women’s currentand prospective role in economic decision-making,or lack thereof, is the first step in creating realand sustainable change.

Figure 4.2 shows that topping the list with thehighest proportion of women in economicdecision-making positions in the public sectorare Swaziland (40%) and Botswana (44%). SouthAfrica (33%) and Namibia (25%) are faring betterthan most, but still fall far short of gender parity.The rest of the region has a gross under-representation of women in economic decision-making. For example, Mauritius and DRC has nowomen at all in these positions.

Women in the private and parastatal sectorare also underrepresented. Available datashows that across the region, the top level ofmanagement in the private sector is maledominated. The following are some examples:

Seychelles: In the Seychellesthe male dominance of largeprofitable companies covers alltypes of businesses: agriculture,construct ion, education,manufacturing, health andhotel industries.

DRC: In the DRC, there are just23.6% of women at the head ofbusinesses in the private sector,and 17% in the parastatal sector;three women as Board Presidentand four as Director Generals.

(2008 Directory of The Congo Federation ofBusiness)

Figure 4.2: Percentage of women and men in economic decision-making by country

Mozambique

100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

Angola

South Africa

TanzaniaNamibia

Lesotho

Swaziland

Mauritius

ZambiaMalawi

Botswana

MadagascarDRC

% Women% Men

Seychelles

Zimbabwe

82%

18%

Figure 4.1: Proportion of female andmale economic decision-makers

in Southern Africa

% female% male

44

56

40

60

33

67

25

75

23

77

22

78

21

79

21

79

20

80 80

20

81

19

82

18

87

13

00


South Africa: In South Africa40% of the 343 companiessurveyed by the Business-women’s Association (BWA) stillhave no women on their boards

at all (South Africa CEDAW Report 2009). In 2004,women held 19.8% of the executive managementpositions. In 2005, that dropped to 16.8%. Thetwo least-transformed industries were thefinancial services sector and mining. The bestemployers for women were state-ownedenterprises, with a high level of both femaledirectors (35%) and executive managers (31%).(South Africa CEDAW Report)

Namibia: Of twelveparastatal organisationssurveyed in 2002 in Namibia,only one of the CEOs was awoman; out of 64 seniormanagers, only seven were women; and at middlemanagement, there were 42 women out of 269managers.

Malawi: Of 50 parastatals studiedin Malawi with 423 members, 86(20.8%) were women. Of the 50 CEOs, four arewomen, which accounts for 8%. (SADC 2002)

Tanzania: At the level of topmanagement in Tanzania, thereis still low, and perhaps decreasing,representation of women.Privatisation has had significant

repercussions for women. For example, Tanzanianinstitutions that previously had competentwomen, such as in financial institutions like theNational Bank of Commerce, find that withprivatisation, opportunities are far fewer.

There is a lack of adequate policies: Fewcountries have policies around gendercommitments that could help encourage equalparticipation of women in economic policymaking and implementation. In fact, the onlycountries that have such policies are Malawi,Mauritius, South Africa and Zambia.

Flashes of progressZambia: The Zambian National Gender Policy recognises the need to promote equal gender representationat all levels of decision-making through affirmative action and empowerment. It talks about the empowermentand improvement of women’s social, economic and political status. The policy states that the rulingMovement for Multi Party Democracy (MMD) took affirmative action as a way of appointing more womento senior management positions in various government institutions. The Fifth National Development Plan(FNDP) is another government document that seeks to ensure equal participation of women in policyformulation processes and the implementation of economic policies. The plan identifies the SADC Protocolon Gender and Development, a national gender policy, re-entry policy for girls who fall pregnant, freebasic education, scholarships for vulnerable people and girls as some ways to empower women and girls.The plan further spells out measures to train women in entrepreneurship skills so they are able to engagein business and the economy. Other documents are the Education, Our Future policy and the Vision 2030plan, which recognise that less access to education means women’s participation in the economy has largelybeen restricted to petty trading, such as street vending and cross-border trading. Despite measures toinvolve women in economic and other decision-making positions, much needs to be done.

Malawi: The gender policy makes provision for the need to lobbyfor at least 30% of policy and decision-making positions in thepublic and the private sector. (The Gender Policy 2000-2008)

South Africa: Several policies seek to ensure equal participationof women in policy formulation processes and the implementationof economic policies. For example, the White Paper on AffirmativeAction in the Public Service says there should be 50% representationof women at all levels in Senior Management Services in the PublicService by March 2009. This figure has not yet been reached.

Shaking hands for equality in ZambiaPhoto: Frank Windeck


Gender budgeting

Budgets are a government’s most importantpolicy instrument. They outline how much willbe spent on health care, military or education,what taxes may be introduced, increased ordecreased, strategies for increasing employmentor access to housing, and every other activity ofthe government. Although budgets may appearto be gender-neutral policy instruments,expenditures and revenue collection can havedifferent impacts on women and men.

Innovative gender-responsive budget analysishappening in many countries provides anapproach to explore and highlight how theseresource collections and allocations maydifferently affect both genders. It looks not onlyat funding levels for the various ministries, butalso at spending priorities within ministries. Thishelps governments develop wise policies thatcontribute to the development of all of its citizens,helps ensure adequate funds are available for

programmes they are developing, and acts as amarker for commitments to gender equality.A gender budget analysis, for example, mightfind that cuts in spending on agriculture fall mostheavily on poor women farmers. Restoring theagriculture budget could increase householdincomes, raise agricultural production andimprove the quality of life of all villagers. Bypermitting better-targeted and more efficientuse of government resources, advocates argue,gender budgeting benefits men and womenalike. Since its introduction in Australia in themid 1990s, gender budgeting has grown tobecome a well-recognised tool for strengtheningaccountability for gender equality and women'sempowerment. It provides strategic entry pointsfor bringing a gender equality perspective toeconomic policy making, national planning,budgeting and programming.

Gender budgeting initiatives are still rarebut some governments are taking first steps:Although gender budgeting is still not widespread, several countries reported the start ofsuch initiatives. Some examples of initiatives ledby governments include:

Tanzania is a pioneer of GenderBudgeting Initiatives (GBI) inAfrica. The first phase, from 1997-2000, focused primarily oninformation collection, researchand dissemination, and capacitybuilding. The second phase of this process,starting in the year 2001, focused on influencingmacro-economic policies and frameworks toadopt gender, while continuing its investmentin data collection and capacity building of variousbudgeting actors. Additionally, gender budgettraining has been conducted with Members of

Mauritian Finance Minister, Rama Sithanen (left), is committed to a genderaware budget Photo: Colleen Lowe Morna

The Protocol provides that State Parties shall ensure gender responsive budgeting at themicro and macro levels including tracking; monitoring and evaluation.


Parliament (MPs). The government has integratedcomponents of transparency in its budgetaryprocess and boards at local levels now displaybudgets. Furthermore, the process reached apoint of influencing review of the local levelbudgetary procedures and timing by correlatingit with the national budget timeframe. Thebudgetary process now begins at the local levelby communities, women and men and youthsexecuting the planning of their needs, budgetingfor activities, setting priorities and then sendingto local government for approval. One of thegreatest impacts has been the recognition of thegender concerns in different sectorsand the allocation of additional resources.(URT Integrated Labour Force Survey (ILFS))

Mauritius: The Ministry of Women’sRights, Child Develop-ment and FamilyWelfare (MWRCDFW) and the Ministryof Finance and Economic Empower-ment are collaborating in a pilot exerciseto engender the Programme-Based

Budget from 2010-2011. Eleven programmes andeight Ministries have been selected. The BudgetCall Circular No 18 of 2008 requested ministriesto provide clear information on the strategy,outputs, outcomes, indicators, targets and timeframes for gender budgeting. At this stage, fourof the ministries, MWRCDFW, Education andHuman Resources, Youth and Sports, Labour,Industrial Relations and Employment have alreadydeveloped their sector gender policy as part ofthe Gender Equality and Women’s EmpowermentProgramme of MWRCDFW, supported by UNDP.

Malawi: The Ministry of Genderand Chi ld Deve lopment(MoGCD) in 2005 initiated thegender budgeting initiative inthe planning sector of priorityministries of Finance, Agricultureand Food Security, Health, Economic Planningand Development and Education. The programmeis being facili-tated with support from theCanadian International Development Agency(CIDA) and there are plans to extend its scope tocover all the government ministries anddepartments. The programme also targetedselected members of parliament that also trainedon gender budgeting.

In other countries, civil society is leadinggender budget initiatives: In some countries,gender budget initiatives are led by civil societyas part of demanding greater accountability. Thisenhances the watchdog role of gender advocacygroups. However, there is need for greaterownership of these processes by governments.Some examples include:

Swaziland: For the last twoyears, the Gender Consortiumhas conducted genderbudgeting workshops for itsmembership, which comprisesof about fifteen organisations,some of which have never managed to attend.Similarly, in Swaziland, despite exposure of theParliament and the Women’s ParliamentaryCaucus to SADC Parliamentary forum workshopson the concept of gender budgeting, thegovernment’s programme of Action for 2008 to2013 is not framed in a gender responsivemanner.

Zambia: Some civil societyorganisations are involved ingender screening of thenational budget to see howmuch is allocated to specificministries on gender issuesevery year, how it is spent, who are the bene-ficiaries and whether the money makes an impacton gender issues. The findings are that in certaininstances, money meant for gender activities isusually diverted to other issues considered to bemore important or pressing.

Partnerships between civil society andgovernment work well: An ideal scenario is forgovernments and civil society to work togetheron gender budget initiatives, as is happening inZimbabwe.

Zimbabwe: Over the last fewyears the Zimbabwe Women’sResource Centre and Network(ZWRCN) , in partnership withthe Ministry of Finance andthe Ministry of WomenAffairs, Gender, and Community Development,has introduced a gender budgeting programme.


To date it has provided training on gender budgeting. Regrettably, the programme has not yet begunpaying off, as it has not been applied in practical terms in the actual drawing up of budgets. The otherchallenge is that the people who have been trained on the gender budgeting initiative are not necessarilythe high-level management involved in decision-making. Hence, this limits the impact that the initiativecan have. (Interview: Manyan A., Deputy Director, Gender Focal Person, Ministry of Finance)

A regional network has been formed: In June 2009, UNIFEM hosted a regional meeting led by theZWRCN, which coordinates the economic justice cluster of the Alliance, to establish a regional (SouthernAfrica) Gender Responsive Budgeting Network.

Very few time use studies conducted: Thesestudies establish the invisible work of womennot recorded in national accounts. Not allcountries have conducted time use studies.Examples of countries that have done so are asfollows:

Malawi: The Integrated Household Survey (IHS)conducted by the NSO in 2005 reported that,among persons aged 15 or more years, 90% ofwomen undertake domestic tasks compared to24% of men.40 Women spent 7.7 hours everyday on household chores compared to 1.2 hoursfor men, and these figures exclude time spenton childcare. It can be inferred that women donot have the time to engage in many paid orother out-of-homestead economic activities.These population averages conceal the evenhigher proportion of hours spent on domestictasks by women who are in the 25-45 year agegroup. Women in this age group do most of thereproductive and productive work, with heavyresponsibilities for child care, family care and forproviding sustenance to their families. Although

they are in most need of thechance to engage ineconomic activities, theyhave least the time to do so.

Madagascar: TheNational StatisticsInstitute (INSTAT)conducted a studyo n m e n a n dwomen’s time usein 2001 . Theresults of thestudy were takenup in the NationalHuman Develop-ment Report in2003 whose topicw a s g e n d e r ,human develop-ment and poverty.Relief from house-hold chores for women was one the objectivesset in an action plan that defined a five-yearbudget to establish collective economicinfrastructures such as washhouses, access ways,electricity, safe water supply, child nurseries, etc.).This plan also sought to assess women’s needs;identify technologies that are appropriate forwomen; organise sess ions todisseminate bio-gas, low-consumptionwood or charcoal stove; and to facilitatewomen’s access to equipment, etc.(INSTAT 2003)

40 IHS 2004-5 p60

Multiple roles of women

The Protocol requires countries to conduct time-use studies and adopt policy measuresto ease the burden of the multiple roles played by women.

Balancing multiple roles, manager at StanbicLusaka Branch, Jacklyn Jutale in the officeand at home

Photo: Perpetual Sichikwenkwe

Few, if any, policies ease women’s multiple roles:In the DRC, the Fund for the Promotion of Women, setup by the Ministry of Gender, Family and Children doesnot yet have the means to implement its policy. In Malawi,the gender policy provides that one of its objectives is topromote the recognition and value of women’s multipleroles and responsibilities, their contribution towards nationaldevelopment and as beneficiaries of the developmentprocess. While there are no specific policies in Tanzania,the government is making efforts that might have similareffects. The Ministry of Health is now encouraging mento take part in childcare. For the most part however thework of women remains unrecognised and unrewarded.


“Analysis of the time use survey: the case of Mauritius” published by the Central StatisticsOffice in 2005The major findings of the survey are as follows:• Women continue to be concentrated in low-skilled and low paid jobs;• Only paid employment and the exchange of commodities for money is registered as part of the GDP

in national accounting systems. The contribution of women to the national economy is thereforeunderestimated;

• Policies aiming to raise the female labour force participation rate could contribute to reduce the gendergap;

• The average man earns Rs48.92 ($1.7) per hour and the average woman ($1.2) implying a gap pay of36%;

• The relative gender pay gap is uneven across different occupations ranging from 13% for clerks through25% for legislators, senior officials and managers to 100% for plant and machine operators;

• The average man earns 13% less than the average woman in the public sector while the average manearns 50% more than the average women in the private sector. There is a need to address the genderpay gap the private sector;

• Women are academically more qualified than men but still earn less in the labour market;• The relative gender pay is 44% in rural regions while only 28% in urban regions;• The average male worker spends 6.9 hours while the average female worker spends 5.9 hours. This

shows the Mauritian household as dual earner model;• Reproductive practices tend to impede more on women in their career than on men;• The average woman spends 314 minutes per day on unpaid work, almost 4 times the average of 80

minutes for the average man;• Non-working mothers spend 484 minutes per day on

household duties compared to 279 minutes for workingmothers. Adding the 334 minutes spent at work per daygives a total of 613 minutes for working mothers;

• Men contribute less to household tasks. Mothers arespending 4 to 5 times more time than fathers onhousehold work;

• Working mother spends 61 minutes compared to workingfather at 27 minutes on care work of household members.

Men taking part in childcare is encouragedPhoto: Gender Links


The unseen sector

The “care” economy is the hidden andunaccounted for work that happens, usuallyby women, in the home and in thecommunity. Though rarely accounted forin any economic statistics, the economywould crumble without this supportivework. A study has estimated that thisamounts to a possible US$11 trillion worthof work that Gross Domestic Products donot account for, and that women do notreceive any payment for. Society simply doesnot value or recognise this work.

This lack of recognition results in part fromthe lack of understanding of the value ofwomen’s work in the economy. Aside from the emerging roles that women are playing in mainstreamproductive activities, the value of the home-based work in keeping economies running smoothly iscompletely ignored. For instance, women are involved in production for home use items that in principlethey could market, such as food, clothing, soft furnishings, pottery and housing. One of the ways ofmeasuring this value is time use studies that assess how men and women spend their day.

Women’s unpaid care work is essential for keeping the social fabric in good repair and for maintainingand reproducing the labour force. This includes home-based chores such as looking after the household,cooking, cleaning and providing personal care to family members, friends and neighbours. Women arealso actively involved in voluntary community work, such as all kinds of civic associations, both secular andchurch based. This includes self-help groups, home based care for people living with HIV and AIDS,neighbourhood safety and civic responsibility. One of the mechanisms put in place by the Gender Protocolwould be for all states to conduct time use studies by 2015. This would provide a better understandingof this multiple role and pave the way for Protocol requirements to adopt policy measures to ease theburden of the multiple roles played by women.

One of the problems with unpaid care work is the strain that it puts on time and resources. For example,in rural areas women’s household duties may include fetching water, gathering firewood, cooking, etc.If there is a family member who is ill, this significantly adds to the burden of care. This leaves very littletime for engaging in productive, income-earning work. Moreover, this unpaid care work frees the timeof other members of the household to engage in paid work. While arguments are made that this creates“balance” in society, in reality it means that women are largely dependent on male income earners, andcannot expect to share in the family earnings as a matter of course.

Ironically, women who do engage in waged employment often find that this does not reduce theircontribution to the care economy. Rather, they find themselves balancing their waged employment withcare and domestic work. While this is slowly changing, with many families developing ways to share theunpaid work that keeps things running smoothly, the care economy is still overwhelmingly female.

Exploring this side of the economy, looking at how women and men are engaging in care work, providesa unique perspective on economics. Developing stories about how this is being balanced, and providingthe public with analysis on the how care work fits into national economies helps to bring this issue intothe public domain and also reflects the everyday lives of women and men.Source: GEMSA care work research 2009

Rose Thamae caring for community members Photo: Lori Waselchuk


The Protocol provides that state parties shall by 2015 adopt policies and enact lawswhich ensure equal access, benefits and opportunities for women and men in tradeand entrepreneurship, taking into account the contribution of women in the formaland informal sectors; Review national trade and entrepreneurship policies, to makethem gender responsive; Introduce affirmative action measures to ensure that womenbenefit equally from economic opportunities, including those created through publicprocurement processes.

Economic empowerment

Women marginalised in trade andentrepreneurship: Women have less access toeducation, credit, land, market information andtechnology in comparison to men, thus in theentrepreneurship and trade arenas, womenremain marginalised. The removal of protectionisttrade policies can have a negative effect on theparticipation of women in trade, as local femaleproducers are challenged to compete with foreignproducts sold at lower rates. As women’s accessto markets is restricted and they are largelyrepresented in the informal sector, this impedeswomen’s economic participation.

Governments are just beginning to be moreproactive: Most SADC trade policies are genderblind; there is no mention of the differentialimpact of trade policies on women and men.

Mauritius has put in place anEmpowerment Programme toaddress difficulties individuals facewith retrenchment in the contextof internat ional f inanc ia ldifficulties and structural changes

at the national level. The National WomenEntrepreneur Council (NWEC) has been set upby the NWEC Act of 1999 to promote thedevelopment of women entrepreneurship. TheSmall Entrepreneur and Handicraft DevelopmentAuthority (SEHDA) have also been instrumentalin developing policies and programmes forwomen in Small and Medium Enterprises.Women are encouraged to start their ownbusiness. A dedicated cell caters for projectpreparation in dialogue with women’s groups.The availability and other family constraints ofwomen are considered when either developingtheir projects or trying to find them work. This

has led to the development of a project on interimservices where a person can take up work as perthe slots that one is available during a week.Capacity building support is also tailor-made toeach person, and where required, in the case ofwomen with low educational achievement, basicliteracy and life skills training is provided. Womenare also encouraged to follow formal businessrelated training in order to enhance theirentrepreneurship aptitudes.

Tanzania: The National Micro-Finance Policy (2000) providesguidelines to achieve genderequity in accessing financialservices in order to empowerwomen economically. Furthermore, theAgricultural Development Strategy (2001), theRural Development Strategy (2001), Small andMedium Enterprise Development Strategy (2003)and the Trade Policy (2003), all include a genderperspective. Women in small and mediumenterprises have been empowered economicallyby facilitating their access to financial facilitiesin the form of credit, training in entrepreneurship,business management, and accessing markets.Efforts are being made to assist women to acquirestandard certification of their products and toaccess internal and external markets. Variouscredit facilities targeting women have beenestablished. Among others is the WomenDevelopment Fund (WDF), or (Credit Resourcefor Empowerment of Women (CREWTanzania)started under CIDA Fund and supportedby the government through the National GenderMachinery and complimented by the localcouncils. The fund provides credit to women inall the 114 Local Councils of mainland Tanzania.A similar Fund operates in Zanzibar.


South Africa: SouthAfrica has policies toincrease women’s accessto credit to ensure thatwomen are empoweredeconomically. In addressing the needs of the poorfor housing and shelter, the Rural Housing LoanFund now provides loans through intermediariesto low income households for incrementalhousing purposes. Through the Department ofSocial Development, there are a number ofprojects throughout the country to facilitateeconomic empowerment and sustainabledevelopment. Local Government, the drivers oflocal economic development includes findingways to help entrepreneurs diversify and growtheir businesses in a way that simultaneouslyhelps the local municipality address its economicneeds.

Zambia: The draft Tradeand Industr ia l pol icyrecognises that womenremain marginalised in theprofessional workplace andin private enterprise and

suggests continuous education and training ofthe domestic labour force in order to promotegender equality and to ensure that localpersonnel are kept updated with internationalbest practices. The policy further identifies thechallenges to increase representation of womenat all levels, from the boardroom to the shopfloor as well as actively promoting more womenentrepreneurs. One of the objectives of the policyis to promote gender equality in the productivesectors of the economy. The policy prescriptionon gender is for Government to encourage skillsdevelopment and entrepreneurship for womenand also encourage the teaching of variousvocational, technological and applied skills atthe country’s tertiary institutions to cater foreveryone including women.

Informal tradeThe informal sector refers to labour activitiesthat fall outside the formal economy, mostlyunregulated by government. The informaleconomy consists of a range of informalenterprises and informal jobs. It may include self-employment in informal enterprises, for example

workers in small unregistered or unincorporatedbusinesses. It may also include wagedemployment in informal jobs, such as workerswithout worker benefits or social protection whowork for formal or informal firms, for householdsor with no fixed employer, including employeesof informal enterprises, casual or day labourers,domestic workers, unregistered or undeclaredworkers, and some temporary or part-timeworkers.

International Labour Relations (ILO)Estimates are that the size of the informaleconomy as a percentage of gross nationalincome (GNI) ranges from under 30% in SouthAfrica, the continent’s largest economy, to almost60% in Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The average insub-Saharan Africa is 42.3%. According to theILO, the sector amounts to 72% of employmentin sub-Saharan Africa. Statistics suggest that 93%of new jobs created in Africa during the 1990swere in the informal sector, reflecting the impactof globalisation, economic reforms andcompetitive pressures on the labour market inrecent years (Verick 2006). Unfortunately, despitethe sheer breadth of the informal economy, themajority of informal sector workers remain poor,unprotected by labour laws, uncovered by socialsecurity schemes, and underserved by formaleducation systems. They have little job securityor savings, and even a brief illness or injury canmean no financial means to survive.

Informal sector in Namibia Photo: Trevor Davies


Despite the fact that informal trade is a hugesector in its own right, there is little disaggregateddata to tell how many women and men are inthe trade. In many nations, this informal sectoris the fastest growing sector.

Botswana: The CSOInformal Sector Survey of2007 shows that the numberof informal sector businessesin Botswana is estimated at40421, which is an increase

of 72.3% compared to the survey of 1999. 67.6%of the informal businesses are run by women,compared to 32.4% by men. Most of thebusinesses can be found in the Wholesale & RetailTrade industry (40.5%), followed by Real Estate(20.3%) and Manufacturing (12.2%). Interestingly,female ownership dominated in nearly allcategories, except for Construction and Health& Social Services. The survey found that as mostinformal businesses are likely to be run by personswithout or with little education, the level ofeducation contributes to the choice of operatingin the informal sector. (CSO 2007)

South Africa: GTZ (theG e r m a n t e c h n i c a lass i stance arm) hasconducted extensiveresearch on South Africa’sinformal sector and the impact vocational skillstraining has on the lives of those working in thesecond economy. According to the organisation’sfindings, 3.5 million South Africans are informally

employed whereas about 9.6 million peoplework in the first economy. In South Africa,various skills training initiatives exist. The JointInitiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) isone of them. Informal entrepreneurs who receivesome form of training are more likely to see anincrease in their profit, turnover and the size oftheir customer base, and make moves toformalise their businesses, such as opening aseparate bank account or registering theircompanies.

Building the capacity of this mostly female forceis one way for women to gain economic justice.By highlighting the need to enact laws thatpromote equal access to and retention in notonly primary, secondary, and tertiary education,but also vocational and non-formal education(in accordance with the Protocol on Educationand Training and the Millennium DevelopmentGoals), the Gender Protocol could help toencourage such training programmes.

Affirmative action and procurement

Women are still excluded from governmentcontracts: The provision for affirmative actionin procurement is potentially one of the mostfar reaching of the Protocol’s provisions. Again,the research suggests that this is an area wherethere will need to be considerable work before2015. However, there are some promisingbuilding blocks:

Mauritius: The PublicProcurement Act waspassed in 2006 and Article22 of the Act highlights“Community and end-userparticipation – where theparticipation of the procurement end-user orbeneficiary community may result in enhancingthe economy, quality or sustainability of theservice to be procured, or the very objective ofthe project is to create employment andinvolvement of the beneficiary community, suchend-user or community may participate in thedelivery of services in accordance with suchprocedure as may be prescribed.” This clauseof the Procurement Act facilitates bids bywomen. (Public Procurement Act 2006)

The informal sector provides jobs for women in SADC Photo: Derrick Sinjela


South Africa: SouthAfrica has the PreferentialP r o c u r e m e n t P o l i c yFramework Policy Act, No5 of 2000. The Act seeks to

provide a framework for preferential treatmentof women of all races, black people and personswith disabilities in procurementtransactions as a means ofaddressing historical imbalances,to accelerate de facto equality.The Act includes a preference pointsystem that must be followed onrace, gender or disability. Theprocurement at local governmentcomes with weights for variouscategories such as women, butthese points are not sufficient tomake a contractor lose a contractas the main determinant cost.(Preferential Procurement PolicyFramework Policy Act 5, 2000)

Madagascar: A new public procurement systemwas adopted in 2004 in Madagascar (Act 2004-009 on 26 July 2004) and has been graduallyimplemented since 2005 through the adoptionof administrative and procedural regulations.The new system aims at “ensuring efficiency inpublic procurements and sound use of public

funds” (Article 4, Act 2004-009 on 26July 2004). In principle, the systemapplies to procurements by theGovernment, public institutions,decentralised collectives and their publicinstitutions, any public or private entitywhose resources come from publicfunds, and any company inwhich the State is a majoritys h a r e h o l d e r . P u b l i cprocurement is subject to abidding process starting atcertain thresholds.(Act 2004-2009, PublicProcurement System)

There are several factors hindering womenfrom accessing credit and productiveresources in the region including poverty,powerlessness in decision-making, limited accessto land, capital credit or cash, fertiliser or manure,technological training, and non-farm labourmarkets etc. Customary structures andinstitutionalised discrimination result in landexchanging between male hands. Women’s lackof access to productive resources not onlyperpetuates the femini-sation of poverty, butalso negatively impacts on regional developmentas a whole. Often women are hindered fromaccessing credit and productive resources acrossthe region by laws that require that marriedcouples are in community of property. In manycases, through policy or practice, this places the

husband as the admini-strator of the joint estate.Therefore, it is only at the husband’s approvalthat credit can be given.

In cases where banks and other financial creditinstitutions are not supposed to demand consentof their husbands, they tend not to have thenecessary collateral due to generally lowereconomic means coupled with malpracticesaround registration of assets to protect theirinterests. Furthermore, some assets such aslivestock are dealt with by customary law whichaligns property with a male head of households,even if it is not his as such, rendering accesscomplicated for the actual owner. It is only singlewomen and those married out of community ofproperty, i.e. with an ante-nuptial contract, who

Property and resources

The SADC Protocol provides that by 2015 state parties shall review all policies and lawsthat determine access to, control of, and benefit from, productive resources by women.

are almost on equal footing with their malecounterparts. Theoretically, they can access creditand productive resources without a husband’sovert or covert approval. However, even thesewomen are at an inherent disadvantage, dueto lower economic muscle.

Credit and productive resources

Specific initiatives are being taken: In somecountries, relevant laws do exist, though womentend to lack knowledge of their existence. Thesame goes for programmes and financialallocations. Some in countrysuccesses include the following.

Lesotho:Important legislativechanges include:• Amendment of the Land Act with theLand Amendment

Act of 2008 which makesprovision for inheritance ofimmovable property by thewidow, joint titling ofimmovable property ofcouples married in com-munity of property and howthe immovable property isto be disposed or burdenedand this requires the writtenconsent of the spouses. Thisprotects women’s economicrights and gives securityof tenure on immovableproperty.

• The amend-ment of theCompanies Act to repealprovision that refusedwomen the right to bedirectors of companieswithout the consent of thehusband. Consent is nolonger required, they arefree to engage in businessin their own right.

• The amendment of theLesotho Sav ings andDevelopment Order whichmade reference to women’s

minority status as a limitation to accessingcredit.

Mozambique: There areprogrammes that exclusivelytarget women (CMN, Kukula,Project Hope and HungerProject) accounting for 9035clients who benefit frommicrofinance provision in Mozambique, accordingto a study conducted by the MozambiqueMicrofinance Facility (MMF).

Mauritius: In his budget2007/2008,the Ministerof Financea l l o c a t e dRs.125,000million for Tourist Villages andRs.100,000 million for SMEschemes. The Budget 2008/2009makes provision for the creationof a new micro-credit schemefor the 100% financing ofprojects implemented bywomen, and loans up toRs .100,000 without anyc o l l a t e r a l t o w o m e nentrepreneurs through theManufacturing Adjustment andSME Development fund.

South Africa: The followingmeasures and frameworks inthe Department of Land Affairshelp to drive the government’sa g e n d a o n e q u i t a b l eredistribution of land: theRest i tut ion Programme,Settlement implementationBusiness Process; SettlementImplementation Strategy; Landa n d A g r a r i a n R e f o r mProgramme; and Women inA g r i c u l t u r e a n d R u r a lDevelopment (WARD). Thecommitmentto genderequality inthe alloca-tion of land


Lining up to register Photo: Moses Mlangeni

More women register companiesBy Moses MlangeniIt is Wednesday morning and theCompanies and Intellectual Property Rightsoffices (CIPRO) in Pretoria are packed withover 100 men and women aspiring toformalise their businesses into closedcorporations, companies or co-operatives.The queues at the registration officesreflect an equal number of women andmen, which is a radical change from thepredominantly male queues that were thenorm a few years ago.

Patricia Manshon, CIPRO’s manager ofbusiness relations, marketing andcommunication confirms the increasingnumber of women entrepreneursregistering. “It’s exciting to see all thewomen in the queues. The tide is certainlyturning,” she says. According to Manshon,some women are in areas previouslydominated by males such as construction,transport, information and communicationtechnology and mining. However, asignificant number of women areregistering businesses in more traditionallyfemale areas such as cater ing,accommodation, retailing and childcareservices.


is reflected in all policies, andActs make specific referencesto meeting the needs ofwomen as beneficiaries, forexample, through theCommunal Land Rights Act,2004.(Act 11 of 2004).

The White Paper on SouthAfrican Land Policy providesmeasures that seek to enable women to accessfinancial and support services. For instance theHome Loan and Mortgage Disclosure Act, 2000extends credit to women and other historicallydisadvantaged groups. It encourages financialinstitutions to provide them with credit to acquirehousing.

Malawi: The Ministry of Trade hasinitiated several programmes topromote women’s access to creditand enable them to benefit fromeconomic activities. A notable

programme being implemented to provide grantswith a bias toward women is funded by theInternational Finance Corporation and imple-mented by the NBS Bank Malawi.

Swaziland: The draft Land Policy is quiteinstrumental in recognising the resource needsof women on an equitable scale with men.However, it has remained a draft for over adecade after it was crafted. It recognises theneed for equitable gender allocation of land.This sentiment is also carried by Section 211 ofthe national consti-tution (2) save as may berequired by the exigencies of any particularsituation, a citizen of Swaziland, without regardto gender, shall have equal access to land fornormal domestic purposes. TheMarriage Bill of 2006 alsoaddresses hindrance on women’saccess to credit throughabolition of marital power.

Zambia: Due to advocacy and lobbying oftraditional leaders, financial institutions, banksand women themselves, quite a number ofwomen especially in urban areas are gainingaccess to credit and productive resources. Forexample, banks and financial institutions no longer

require a woman to havepermission from her husbandto access credit and other productiveresources. However, there remains achallenge of collateral, as most womenstill do not own property. In order toevade this requirement, leadinginstitution advise women to form orbelong to forums, co-operatives,associations and other such associations

in order to have easier access to credit andproductive resources. In summary, most measuresthat exist support men more than women inaccessing credit and resources. The governmentput in place the Citizen Economic EmpowermentCommission (CEEC) in 2007, which gives loans tomen, women and youths, especially those thatare vulnerable.

Land ownership

Women’s ownership of land is low exceptin Botswana: In Southern Africa, women provide70-80% of all agricultural labour and 90% of alllabour involving food production in the region.Yet they own only a fraction of land. While dataon land ownership is patchy, the figures rangedfrom 11% in Seychelles to 25% in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo and 25% Tanzania. (UN Data)In Lesotho the Household Budget Survey of2002/03 found that 27.5% of male headedhouseholds owned fields(farm land) compared to alower figure of 13.4% byfemale-headed households.However, Botswana has404.706 landowners of whom186.699 (46.13%) are women.

Women’s plots are gene-rally smaller: Where womenhold land, their plots aregenerally smaller than thoseheld by men. This limitedaccess to natural resources iscaused by both legal andsocio-cultural factors. Legalobstacles relate both to familyand succession law and tonatural resource law.(BIPPA 2009)

Botswana

The National Policy onGender and Development of2008 recognises that despitethe positive changes inlegislation, women still havelimited access to and controlover productive resources.The National PopulationPolicy Review of 2007documented that almost50% of households arefemale headed, and that themajority of poor people andpoor households are femaleheaded (Ministry of Labourand Home Affairs 2008).There are no special policiesin place for women to accesscredit.

Recession hits hardEven though the legal status ofwomen has changed substantiallysince independence in Namibia,their social status remains relativelyunchanged in many segments ofthe population. Women aredeprived of equal access toresources, participation in decision-making and even the right to maketheir own decisions. As a resultwomen have been more adversely affected by the economic recessionthan their male counterparts andhave usually been the main victimsof structural adjustment.


But governments are making legislative provisions for women’s land ownership: There are,however, various examples of provisions that are being made for women’s ownership of land, such as:

Tanzania: The constitutional right for women to own land is embodied in the Lawof Marriage Act and the Land Acts. Part II Section 3(2) of the Land Act states “theright of every woman to acquire, hold, use and deal with land shall, to the sameextent and subject to the same restrictions, be treated as the right of any man.” Theact states that occupancy cannot be surrendered in order to undermine the rights ofa spouse. The Village Land Act invalidates customary laws that discriminate against

women, and recognises a wife’s rights to land on the death of a spouse or on divorce. It provides that“any rule of customary law or any such decision in respect of land held under customary tenure shall bevoid and inoperative and shall not be given effect to by any authority, to the extent to which it denies

Zambian women miss out

Although the Land Act was passed in Zambia in 1996, guaranteeingwomen the possibility of being land owners, most women are stillmarginalised in land ownership compared to their male counterparts.The major drawback is that the same Land Act confers land ownershipon men to apply to the administration of traditional land.

According to the Vision 2030 plan, there are currently two land tenure systems in Zambia: the customaryor tribal tenure and leasehold tenure. Both marginalise women in terms of allowing them to access andown land. This is more so in the application of customary laws as these are not written and are subjectto arbitrary interpretation by local court justices. Policies and laws relating to land in Zambia are eithersilent on women’s disadvantaged status or are gender-biased against them.

As a way of encouraging women to access and have control of land, government, through the Ministryof Lands, issued a circular of allocating 30% of all advertised land to women while the remaining 70%is competed by both sexes. However, there still remain challenges in that there is no specific monitoringmeasures to see to it that the 30% of land allocation is actually given to women, and women often giveup when presented with the bureaucracy in acquiring land.

The country is in the process of developing a land policy and so far, the draft policy has included genderprovisions on access to land. According to the draft policy, in order to address matters pertaining to landand gender, the government will review statutory and customary laws and practices that perpetuategender discrimination. It will also mainstream gender in all institutions administering and managing landas well as implement at least 30% land ownership for women. It will further devise an advocacy andsensitisation programme on gender and land nationwide.

Customary practices undermine ownership: The main dilemmain creating laws and government ministries to facilitate more genderparity in land ownership is that land allocation does not reside withinone entity. Often there are conflicting authorities in the form oftraditional tribunals and legal structures, and these sit in stark oppositionto one another. Even in countries that claim to have ownership lawswhich are “gender neutral” legally speaking, women are subject tocustomary laws that in turn, prevent them from acquiring land.

In Tanzania, where women holdland, their plots are generallysmaller than those held by men. Forinstance, the average size ofwomen’s landholdings is 0.53hectares (compared to 0.73 formen). Recently, campaigns havebeen organised by civil society todemand a role for women in theproduction of food crops (Uhakikawa Chakula Marjorie Mbilinyi 2001).At present, government’s concernwith food security has prompted anational initiative to make surethere is enough food production,by giving subsidies to regions thatare traditionally cultivation based.


women, children or personswith a disability lawful accessto ownership, occupation oruse of any such land.” The actalso provides for allocation towomen of a certain numberof places on the VillageAdjudication Committees andVillage Land Councils, whichh a v e d e c i s i o n - m a k i n gresponsibilities concerningoccupancy rights and landdisputes. By law, both spouses must be registeredand mortgages can only be issued with theconsent of the spouse or spouses, who are entitledto a copy of the mortgage agreement.

Malawi: The land policyr e c o m m e n d s g e n d e rsensitive access to land andca l l s for changes ininheritance laws to allow theremaining spouse, children

and especially orphans to inherit the propertyof their parents, even when the deceased parentor parents die without a will41 and that genderaccess should always be considered in policyplanning and implementation strategies. Thepolicy however does not address how women’sland ownership is to be attained.

Lesotho: Customarily land is communally ownedand used for purposes other than residential andagricultural (Lettuce et al, 1997). That which isallocated for housing sites is usually allocated tothe head of the household, who is usually a man.Although this still pertains in the rural areas, theLand Act of 1979, which currently regulates landmatters, is gender neutral.

In the case of resettlementland, the Land Act of 1979is gender neutral in itsprovisions and has givenequal opportunity forurban men and women toown land except those married in community ofproperty, until the recent passing of the LegalCapacity of Married Persons (LCMP) law. The Act

of 2003 abolishes the minority status ofmarried women and gives them theright to apply for and register land intheir own names. In this regard,interviews with the Chief Lands Officerat LSPP show some men have allowedtheir spouses to register land in their(wives) names.

Information from interviewing theMarketing Manager of another sourceof residential land, the Lesotho Housing

and Land Development Corporation (LHLDC)based on her sample from a high-income landdevelopment project of 126 plots revealed thatplot ownership is “almost 50/50.” Sixty-two or49.4% women owned residential land comparedto 64 or 50.8% men. Yet on another sample ofa smaller high-income housing project, the femalefigure is even lower. Out of 20 plots, 16 (80%)participants are male and only 4 (20%) are female.

Mozambique: The Land Act19/97 states in its Art.10 that men,women as wel l as localcommunities have the right tothe use of land. In Mozambiqueland cannot be sold, the property

of land is exclusive to the State.

Seychelles: According to the country’s laws,land can be owned by males and females equallywith no restrictions related to gender. In anycase, the authority concerned on land ownershipcould provide little information, the informationthey hold is not gender-disaggregated. There isno gender provision in the country’s land policy.Land provided by the state for farming is 600hectares of the country’s surface and already 320hectares have been allocated. There are 361tenants and 39 of them are women (11%). TheAgricultural Agency supports all farmers ingetting access to financial or credit facilities andthere are no gender preferences or implications.Nonetheless there has been somesort of recognition of women’s rolein food product ion and aseminar/workshop was conductedin 2008 focusing on the issue.

The National Land Policy ofTanzania states: “In order toenhance and guarantee women’saccess to land and security oftenure, women will be entitled toacquire land in their own right notonly through purchase but alsothrough allocation. However,inheritance of clan or family landwill continue to be governed bycustom and tradition, provided theyare not contrary to the constitutionand the principles of naturaljustice.”

41 Malawi Land Policy ( 2002) Ministry of Lands and Housing p 10

South Africa: Thegovernment has been

planning and imple-mentingseveral land reform policies thatseek to enable individual or groupland rights to be registered andprotected.

The Communal Land Rights Act(2005 ) recognises women’s rightsto land. The Department of LandAffairs has put in place a genderpolicy, which seeks to ensure that gender equalityis addressed within all aspects of land reform.

However, only 13.3% of the total number ofhouseholds that benefited from the LandRedistribution and Tenure Reform Programmesduring the period 1994 to December 2007 werefemale-headed households. This is because landrestitution primarily restores land ownership toprevious owners (mostly men).(South Africa CEDAW Report 2009)

Namibia: In accordance withArticle 95 (a) of the Constitution,women are accorded the samestatus as men with regard to allforms of land rights, either as individuals or asmembers of family land ownership trusts. Everywidow (or widower) is entitled to maintain theland rights she (or he) enjoyed during the spouse’slifetime. Other provisions include:• Women will be entitled to receive land

allocations and to bequeath and inherit land;• Government will actively promote the reform

of civil society and customary law which impedewomen’s ability to exercise rights over land;

• Policy will promote practices and systems thattake into account women’s domestic, productiveand community roles, especially in regard tohousing and urban development, agriculturaldevelopment and natural resource management.

Zimbabwe: The Traditional LeadersAct as read with the Communal LandsAct gives traditional leaders the rightto allocate communal land, and toconsider customary law in the

allocation of land. As a result, few women havebeen able to own communal land in their own

right. In the same vein s15 of theDeeds Registries Act [Chapter20:05] requires the husband of amarried woman to be assisted byher husband in the execution ofa deed when she seeks to havingtitle to freehold land. In reality,most women have not been ableto ensure ownership of this landdue to collateral required byfinancial institutions for mort-gages. S23 (3) (a) of the Consti-

tution provides that women and men shall betreated equally in the allocation of land. Thisamendment was introduced as part of the 17th

amendment to the Constitution well after theland reform programme had been undertaken.

Malawi: “The National Gender Policy and theNational Gender Programme, stipulates thatequality and equity must be promoted in all foodsecurity initiatives to ensure improved nutritionalstatus and health for women. Efforts shall bedevoted to improving women’s social statusrelative to that of women in all aspects of foodsecurity.” The policy provides for increased accessto credit by male and femalefarmers42 and the promotion ofequitable distribution of incomeespecially for women through theimprovement of their knowledgeof the market functions.43

Programmes in food production usually targetvulnerable groups, meaning that women featureas beneficiaries of such programmes. For examplethe two most notable are the free fertilizer StarterPack programme (Targeted Input Programme(2001-2004) and the Fertilizer Subsidy programme(2005 - 2007). In the earlier programmes, accessby gender was reported by evaluative studies.The IHS report indicates that for the years 2001- 2004, the corres-ponding proportions ofagricultural households that received starter packwere 35.4%, 41.7%, 46.3% and 41.7%. In eachof the years, (2001 - 2004) there were about 7%more female-headed households getting theStarter Pack. This could be explained by the factthat the scheme targeted poorer households andfemale-headed households were more likely tobe poor.

42 Ibid paragraph 3.1.6 at p 1143 Ibid Paragraph 4.1.2.3 p 14

Woman farmer of the year Photo: GCIS


Large gender gaps in the per capitaincome of women and men: The tableand graph show that for countries in whichgender disaggregated data could beobtained, men have a higher per capitaincome than women in all SADC countries.South Africa, Mauritius and Botswana havethe highest per capita income for womenand men. However, these countries also havethe largest gaps between the per capitaincome of women and that of men. The percapita income of women in South Africa isless than half of men (45%) and 38% inMauritius. Although the per capita incomein Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia is low,the difference between women and men isnot as high as in the richer countries.

Food Production Initiative run by women, Mauritius

There is policy that encourages women to undertake foodproduction thereby contributing to improving food self sufficiency.The National Woman Council under the aegis of the Ministry ofWomen, Family Welfare and Child Development is responsiblefor implementing this initiative with the collaboration of theMinistry of Agro Industry, Food Production and Security. Thefacilities of the latter Ministry are made available to womanentrepreneurs for training and mentoring. The preference hasbeen towards agro processing of horticultural produce and forproduction of vegetables under protected production systems.

There is another initiative under the Empowerment Programmefor promoting women to undertake food production activities.The focus is on retrenched woman workers who have lost theirjobs. Through this initiative, they receive training and otherfacilities to start a small joint enterprise. So far, this category ofwoman force has so far engaged itself in fruit production, goatfarming, duck farming and agro processing.Food Security Policy (2006). Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security - Government of Malawi

Conditions of employment

The Protocol provides that by 2015, state parties shall review, amend and enact laws andpolicies that ensure women and men have equal access to wage employment in all sectorsof the economy. It also provides for equal pay for equal work; eradication of occupationalsegregation; maternity and paternity benefits.

Women can support themselves by producing foodPhoto: Gender Links


Source: UNDP Human Development Report, 2002: 150-1; 222-225

AngolaBotswanaComorosLesothoMadagascarMalawiMauritiusMozambiqueNamibiaSouth AfricaSwazilandSeychellesZambiaZimbabwe

Country HDI rank GDPper capita

Femaleincome

Maleincome

Femaleas % male

161126137132

-1636717012210712547153128

2187718415882031

-943

10017854

64319401449212508

7802635

-541811361223

-5065332705201958882557

-5621946

-902520382853

-726

1473610075068130246479

-995

3324

60%56%43%

-70%36%70%40%45%39%

56%59%

Table 4.2: Gender gaps in per capita income


44 2009.45 However, there is no data on how many women benefit or know about this provision.46 2009.47 Source: Labour Code 1992, Public Service Regulations 1969, Labour Code Wage (Amendment) Order 2007 and Interviews 2009.48 2008.49 For a miscarriage, 2 weeks leave on full pay. For a still-born child, a maximum of 12 weeks leave. A worker who is nursing is entitled every day at a time convenient to her at least two breaks

of half-hour or one hour for a period of 6 months.

Table 4.3: Conditions of

Maternity leave Paternity

Angola44

Botswana46

DRC

Lesotho47

Madagascar

Malawi

Mauritius48

Mozambique50

Namibia51

Seychelles52

South Africa

Swaziland

Tanzania

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Yes. 3 months paid45

Yes. 12 weeks, 6 before, 6 after. During maternity leave a maternityallowance of not less than 25% of the employee's basic pay or 50 foreach day of absence.

Yes. Labor code.

Yes. 2 weeks after 1 year employment in public sector. 6 weeksprivate sector. Public Service Regulations 1969 grant 90 days paidmaternity leave to permanently employed female public servants.

Yes. 6 weeks before, 6 weeks after for private sector. 2 months inthe public sector.

Yes. Every 3 years, 8 weeks paid leave. In the event of illness arisingout of pregnancy, affecting the employee or her child, the employer shallgrant the employee additional leave as the employer may deem fit.

Yes49. After one year of employment, 12 weeks, The EmploymentRights Act (ERA) 2008.

Yes. 60 days, after which she can take up to an hour a day for breastfeeding, for one year unless otherwise prescribed by a clinician.

Yes. After one year, 3 months of unpaid maternity leave, 4 before, 8after. The Social Security Commission will pay 80% of her normalpay for the maternity leave period.

Yes. 12 weeks paid leave , 4 before, 10 after. A female worker is notallowed to return to work before her paid leave is over.

Yes. 4 months. 4 weeks before, 6 after. The Act also entitles a womanundergoing miscarriage in the third trimester period of pregnancy, orbearing a still born child to maternity leave.

Yes. 12 weeks.

Yes. 84 days paid maternity leave.

Yes. Employment and Industrial Relation Act: After 2 years ofemployment a woman is entitled to 90 days. However, there is acampaign to increase the number of days to about 180 days toencourage breastfeeding.

Yes. S18 of the Labour Act provides for maternity leave of 98daysand s39 of the Public Service Regulations SI1/2000 provides for 90days maternity leave.

Country

No.

No.

Yes. Labor code.

No. There is a proposal for a Paternity Leave Bill to grant fathers amonth’s leave.

Yes. The Labour Act grants 3 days of paternity leave for the privatesector. 15 days for the public sector.

No.

Yes. A male worker shall be entitled to 5 continuous working days.

Yes. This consists of a two days consecutive or alternate leaveduring the thirty day from the date of birth of the child, every twoyears.

No.

No.

Yes. 3 days

Yes. At least 3 days

No legal provision. However, some organisations allow a man tobe on leave for a few days after the birth of a child. This is normallyprovided for in a collective agreement.

No.


50 2009.51 Labour Act/Reviewed 2007/8 (2007).52 Source: Employment Act, 1991 revised 1995.53 A case was brought by one gentleman who argued that the differentiation in terms of retirement age was discriminatory towards men.

employment

Retirement age and benefits for women and men Sexual harassment

No. Women at 55, men at 60. In civil service, women can retire after 30 yearsand men after 35 years of service

Yes. Same for women and men.

Yes. Social Security Law.

Yes. Most employment sectors including the public sector are gender neutralon these issues.

Yes, public service. No, private sector. 60 years for both sexes in publicservice. 55 for women and 60 for men in private sector.

Yes. Anti-discrimination Act.

No. First Schedule of the Employment Rights Act up to the age of 65 years.A female officer recognising five years service may retire on ground of marriageirrespective of age.

No. 65 for men and 60 for women.

Yes. Not specific, but for both male and female 55 early retirement, 60 fullretirement.

Yes. 63 years and a monthly pension of Seychelles Rupees 2,100.

No. 65 for men and 60 for women.53

Yes. The Employment and Labour Relations Act of 2004 states: Everyemployer shall ensure that he promotes an equal opportunity in employmentand strives to eliminate discrimination.

Yes. Both men and women retire at the age of 55.

No. The age of retirement in the private sector is provided for in the CollectiveBargaining Agreements for each sector in the private sector. In the PublicSector the retirement is 6O years in terms of s17 of the Public ServiceRegulations.

No. While not illegal, some cases can be prosecuted under assault or defamationstatutes.

Some. It is recognised in the Public Service Act covering the public sector, butvery few ministries are making mention of this in their respective policies.Some institutions have incorporated sexual harassment policies.

Yes. Labor code and the Sexual Violence Law.

Yes.

Yes. In general, the Labour Act guarantees respect for human dignity in alllabour relations. Article 23 forbids sexual harassment.

No. Not specific.

Yes. Sexual Harassment is provided in Part IV of the Discrimination Act 2002

NA

Yes. A clause in the Labour Act, while difficult to define, condones sexualharassment.

Yes.

Yes. The South African law prohibits sexual and other forms of harassmentunder the Employment Equity Act 1998 and the Equity Act. A code of GoodPractice on Sexual Harassment amended in 2005 has been issued.

No.

Yes. The Employment and Labour Relations Act of 2004 states: Harassmentof an employee shall be a form of discrimination and shall be prohibited

No. Some organisations have in-house policies on sexual harassment. However,such cases if reported would be dealt with under the Penal code.

Yes. S8 of the Labour Act provides for the prohibition of sexual harassmentas an unfair labour practice.

Figure 4.3: Comparison between per capita income of women and men

Mozambique

16000

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

South Africa

NamibiaLesotho

Swaziland

Mauritius

ZambiaMalawi

Botswana

% Women% Men

Zimbabwe

All SADC countries provide formaternity leave but only six havepaternity leave: Across the region,all of the SADC countries provide somevariation of maternity leave. The mostcommon is for a period of 12 weeks,4 weeks before and 6 weeks afterbirth. Some countries, such asMauritius make provisions formiscarriages and Zambia makesprovisions for breast feeding. The DRC,Madagascar and Tanzania haveaccommodated all of the provisionsin the table, with varying forms ofmaternity and paternity leave, equal retirementage, and a sexual harassment clause. Only six ofthe 15 countries have paternity leave. Ten of the15 countries have equal retirement age benefits,with the others usually different on average 5years between women and men, predominantlywith women at 60 and men 65 years of age. Nineof the 15 countries have measures in place toaddress the issue of sexual harassment in theworkplace.

Skills development policies and prog-rammes: Throughout the region there are variousskills development policies and programmes toincrease women’s access to employment.

DRC: The DRC has a policy and a programme forskills development in both the public and privatesectors. The government plans to create skills

development prog-rammes acrossvarious sectors such as education,development and economics. In theprivate sector, employers initiate suchprogrammes for their staff. In the publicsector, these programmes do notconsider gender but they do in theprivate sector. It is within these structuresthat the specific needs of women canbe monitored. In the private sector,employer s a reorganising servicest o f a c i l i t a t ewomen’s access to

c r e d i t a n d t h e r e i sentrepreneurial training forspecific groups of womenand exchanges of experience from partners ofthe same field.

Lesotho: Lesotho does not have a skillsdevelopment policy. However, skills developmentis dealt with within programmes of variousorganisat ions . Unfortunate ly genderdisaggregated data on beneficiaries of skillsdevelopment programmes was not readilyavailable. Women are said to be benefitting as

participants, as well as beingempowered to break intotraditionally male areas ofemployment and being ableto widen their space foremployment opportunities.

Absence of paternityleaveIn Lesotho, withoutpaternity leave, womencontinue to be burdenedwith having to balancee m p l o y m e n t a n ddomestic responsibilities.If proposals for grantingof paternity leave gothrough Lesotho willhave broken throughtradition in involvingmen to support familyresponsibilities.

5888

13204

5532

14738

5418

9025

2557

6479

2009

5068

1946

3324

1123

2853

705 1007506 725 502

905



Mozambique: The NationalInstitute of Professional Trainingcarries out skills developmentprogrammes. This institution isunder the Ministry of Labor, and

most of these programmes apply to small industryand services. Gender disaggregated data is notavailable.

Mauritius: The country has askills development policy as wella s s k i l l s d e v e l o p m e n tprogrammes given by severalbodies. Some of these bodies are:

• The Industrial and Vocational Training Board.• The Agricultural Research and Extension Unit.• Ministry of co-operatives.• National Women and Entrepreneur Council.The policies and programmes put in place applyto several sectors of the economy but are mainlyused with the Small Entrepreneur and Handicraft

D e v e l o p m e n tAuthority (SEHDA).F o l l o w i n g t h e2006/2007 BudgetSpeech, the Govern-ment launched thee m p o w e r m e n tProgramme (EP).One component ofthe EP is a specialprogramme foru n e m p l o y e dwomen which aimsat mobilising unem-ployed women and

those retrenched for industrial restructuring,especially in the textile and sugar sectors. Nearlyall of the women who have received training areself-employed and are able to put their productson stands given free to them in strategic placesin the country. There are also five craft marketsin strategic places well visited by tourists.

Malawi : Te c h n i c a l a n dvocational development isregulated under the Technical,Entrepreneurial and VocationalEducation and Training Authority(TEVETA) which is a regulatory

body established in July 1999 by an Act ofParliament with the mandate to create anintegrated TEVET System in Malawi that isdemand-driven, competency based, modular,comprehensive, accessible and flexible andconsolidated enough to service both rural andurban Malawian population. TEVET has a numberof programmes including an apprenticeshipscheme, private sector training programme, skillsdevelopment initiative, small enterprisedevelopment, and on-the-job training.

The TEVETA programme also aims at achievingthe aspirations set out in the gender policy byspecifi-cally designing their programmes toincrease the number of women. All levels of theTEVET system support the specific TEVET GenderPolicy, these activities form a cross-cutting themeincluding the development of specific gendersensitisation materials for TEVET staff at all levels,career guidance material and training to increaseTEVET access for young girls, gender neutralcurriculum and the targeted recruitment ofwomen into all Project Working groups andtraining events. Despite these efforts, the numberof women being trained in vocational skills islower than the 30% policy for women’sparticipation advocated by the TEVET.

To complement the work of TEVET, independentvocational schools have been established in thecountry such as the Mikolongwe vocationaltraining school and the Malawi Council for theHandicapped vocational school, among others.

Craft markets are good business in Mauritius Photo: Gender Links

In his budget speech on May24 2009, Rama Sithanen,Minister of Finance, Mauritius,explained the strategy thegovernment of Mauritius inregard to the economic crisis:"We are not doling out moneybut investing responsibly tosave the island’s economy andprotect the revenue ofthousands of families whootherwise will have to face thechallenges of unemployment."

Seychelles: The Seychelleshas a number of skillsdevelopment programmesthat cover most sectors ofactivity. In 1994 a Centrefor Skills Development was

set up within the Ministry of Employment andSocial Affairs but its activities have since beenpassed on to other agencies/organisations andit no longer exists as a separate centre. TheDepartment of Employment still has the SkillsAcquisition Programme (SAP), which caters forparticipants of all ages and education levels -across a wide range of activities. So far themajority of the participants are women.

New programmes have recently been launched,for example, within the Seychelles TourismAcademy and the Seychelles Institute ofTechnology that have a view of re-training

individuals whohave taken eithervoluntary departureor who have beenmade redundantduring the recenteconomic reforms.A large number ofindividuals atten-ding these prog-rammes are women.

Madagascar: Capacity building is an essentialcomponent of several national policies andprogrammes. A 2004-2008 programme on theimprovement of the economic efficiency ofwomen, includes specific actions aimed atempowering them in the economic field. The2006-2012 plan provides ‘support for the on-the-job training programmes job and vocationaltraining at the Chamber of Commerce andIndustries as well as in public institutions’(RM/MAP 2006, 87).

The National Programme forE m p l o y m e n t S u p p o r t‘targets in priority thedisadvantaged populationsin the labour market,including de facto (...)women (...)’, it establishes among its strategicfocuses the ‘local development of skills’ (PNSE2006,17). One of the immediate related objectivesfocuses on ‘enhancing the employability ofvulnerable groups’ through training and theadequacy of the qualifications with the labourmarket needs. These commitments are reflectedin the country programme developed with theILO. Strengthening the skills of women is specifiedin the country programme, women being thegroup most affected by unemployment andunderemployment (RM/ILO 2008).

Textile workers in Seychelles Photo: Gender Links


South Africa: South Africa has aSkills Development Act. Under theterms of the Skills Development Act,1998, and the Skills DevelopmentLevies Act, 1999, from 1 April 2001onwards, every employer in SouthAfrica who is registered with SARSfor PAYE; and has an annual payrollin excess of R250 000, must registerwith SARS to pay the SkillsDevelopment Levy, 1% of the totalamount of remuneration paid toemployees. The money is used tof u n d s k i l l s d e v e l o p m e n tprogrammes for the employees ofthe company.

The Skills Development Strategy of1998 stipulates that a specific targetof 54% for women should be inlearnerships.

The Skills Development Act alsom a k e s p r o v i s i o n f o r t h eestablishment of Sector Educationand Training Authorities (SETAs).SETAs are the agencies responsiblefor co-ordinating the implemen-tation of the skills legislation. Eachsector has its own SETA – forexample there is the LocalGovernment Seta and others.

Next steps

In Africa, women share the largestburden of poverty through entrenched andendemic gender inequalities perpetrated throughthe economic exploitation of resources andpower. Due to the current opportunities broughtabout by the proliferation of building andconstruction projects, and the generation ofsubsequent spin-off industries throughout theAfrican continent, popular movements in thesector have a pivotal role to prioritise women’sinvolvement and participation in decision-makingstructures. The following are some strategies forchange.

At the national level• Economic literacy training; on how the economy

works as well as developing a manual.• Target the division of labour and highlight

unpaid work to make social reproduction visibleand show how it subsidises paid work.

• Demand that social reproduction be givenpriority in policies and budget allocation. Thiscould be done by targeting social issues likewater access or HIV and AIDS as a target forthe national budget to increase these budgetsand disaggregate their distribution to benefitwomen.

• Link the issues to human development targetsin the MDG’s.

At regional level• Develop a commonly adaptable economic

literacy manual.• Use processes such as ´ Women’s Eyes on the

Budget´ to engage in public finance, expen-diture and taxation, and to demystify thebudget process.

• Draw linkages between access to assets andincome.

• Make links between women’s economicempowerment and statutory and legalinstruments.


barometer chap 4 fin - peacewomensadc gender protocol baseline barometer 99women missing from...

Documents