Date: 29 July 2024
Opinion Piece By: Javu Baloyi
30 years into democracy, gender parity remains an elusive concept
On the 06 of June 2024, the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Mr. Mosotho Moepya handed a list of 400 Members of Parliament to the Chief Justice, Judge Raymond Zondo. In his summary, Mr. Mosotho indicated that 174 women (43.5%) and 226 men (56.5%) were on the list, a 3% decline from 45.25% in 2019.
The decline should be a serious cause for concern for a country ranked 12th in the global gender index. Consequently, this decline backward will likely take the country backward in attaining gender parity in the National Assembly. The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) had anticipated that 30 years into our democracy, political parties would emphasize a gender quota system for their members going to all spheres of government.
Through this setback, South Africa will rank very low on the global gender index. Therefore, this decline places South Africa as an unequal society wherein gender parity is an afterthought in the manifestos and deliberations of political parties. Since 2009, the CGE has been observing national and local government elections. One of the key CGE recommendations was to ensure that political party lists must be gender disaggregated to meet the quota system, meaning there must be parity in terms of the men and women on the lists. As per CGE’s recommendations, the IEC should be afforded the power to veto political parties’ candidate lists in compliance with gender parity quotas. (For full article, visit www.cge.org.za under Articles)
Javu Baloyi is the Spokesperson of the Commission for Gender Equality.