Hon Premier, there are many noteworthy achievements for women and gender equality worldwide and in South Africa.

As women legislators, we have worked hard to mainstream gender equality through development policy, systematic gender integration and institutional transformation.

• To the Hon. MEC of Finance, Mrs Scott this Hon. House requires a separate report on the Women’s Budget, so that, we can assess what is really required to achieve SDG’s in 2030 and plan accordingly.
• HON. Premier, our constituents constantly raises issues that have gender based inequalities at their root.
• The HON.MEC of Education, Dlungwane must be lauded for the sanitary pad distribution to learners, an initiative the Minority Front is also embarking on, in a smaller way, however our government needs to take more steps to maximize the contributions that both women and men can make to develop S.A.
• A key step is for every political party to implement the Beijing Platform of Action (1995) and ensure that there is parity of both women and men on party lists, so that, the 2019 Parliamentary term achieves the 50/50 women to men representation.
• For this internal party policies must change whereby gender parity can be guaranteed, if we make legislative Constitutional changes with IEC regulations, which are strictly enforced.
• We cannot have equity without first achieving equality. This is a worldwide transversal requirement. So, let S.A lead the way because our situation is ideal due to our historical past and the social disadvantages that prevent men and women from operating as equals in a muriad of ways and this measure in political gendered power sharing will compensate to evolve fairness by equity.

Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi

Minority Front  MPL KZN Legislature