Riyaz Patel
The Chairperson of Parliament’s Multi-Party Women’s Caucus (MPWC), has urged all government ministries to re-engineer their budgets to be more gender responsive.
Kate Bilankulu said it’s important for National Treasury to ensure that all approved budgets are gender responsive; and that the Ministry of Women develop a gender-responsive planning and budgeting framework to be utilised by all departments.
“We further make a call on the Independent Electoral Commission, the Ministry and all political parties for the introduction of mandatory gender quotas,” she said.
“Currently, very few political parties have gender quotas in their Constitutions,” noted Bilankulu.
The MPWC was established as a cross-political platform for women parliamentarians to champion gender equality and women’s issues in and outside of Parliament across party political lines.
“On the eve of Women’s Day and during this Women’s Month, we further call for the establishment of women’s caucuses in all provincial legislatures and municipal councils. This will ensure that all women issues are never neglected or seen as an afterthought,” Bilankulu said.
The MPWC intends to further the work of its predecessor in advocating for legal reform in relation to the sex industry.
The MPWC will also aim to put the spotlight on religious and cultural practises that are harmful to women, and to implement an empowerment programme aimed at reviving moral regeneration and the economic empowerment of women.
