Gender Issues

THE GENDER POLICY STATEMENT (1999)
It deals with specific issues of gender equality in the justice system. It will help us to ensure that the gender equality objectives articulated in Justice Vision 2000 are implemented effectively. It should therefore be read and implemented concurrently with Justice Vision 2000.

In developing our Gender Policy Statement we consulted individuals and groups inside and outside the Department. Civil society stakeholders who attended the many consultative workshops included: Traditional leaders, Organised labour, the legal profession, Religious leaders, the rural women’s movement and the business community.

It gives us great pleasure to release our Gender Policy Statement. It is based on our belief that the essence of true equality lies in the accommodation of difference and disadvantage. We sincerely hope that through its implementation, we will one day be able to take pride in a new justice system as one of the instruments that has contributed significantly to improving the quality of life for women in this country, and thus in reducing gender inequality. Please join us in the implementation and monitoring partnership.

POLICIES & LEGAL FRAMEWORK

• CEDAW [Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women], 1981
• Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 1995
• Commonwealth Gender Plan of Action 2005 -2015 (Basis for the Gender Justice Conferences)
• African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, 1981
• AU Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, 2004
• SADC Declaration on Gender and Development, 1980
• An Addendum to the 1997 Declaration on Gender and Development, 1998
• Guidelines for the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act for the Magistrate, 2008

PUBLISHED MATERIAL

• Gender Mainstreaming - Vol 01 Assessment Report
• Gender Mainstreaming - Vol 02 Implementation Guidelines
• Gender Mainstreaming - Vol 03 Reporting Protocol
• Gender Mainstreaming - Vol 04 Needs Assessment Report
• Gender Mainstreaming - Vol 05 Budget Analysis and Assessment Instrument
• Gender Mainstreaming - Vol 06 Budgeting Guidelines

ARTICLES

• Ukuthwala Booklet: Ukuthwala is a form of abduction that involves kidnapping a girl or a young woman by a man and his friends or peers with the intention of compelling the girl or young woman’s family to endorse marriage negotiations. 2011
• Ukuthwala (Let’s protect our children), Justice Today 2009, Vol 5
• The Law Week of the University of Limpopo, School of Law, has by now become a regular item on the annual agenda of lawyers in South Africa and Southern Africa...read more

CONTACTS

Ntibidi Rampete, Director, Tel: 012 315 1671, E-mail: NRampete@justice.gov.za

LINKS

• UCT
• University of Pretoria
• CALS (Centre for Applied Legal Studies)
• The Constitutional Court
• The Supreme Court of Appeal
• SALRC
• Women's Legal Centre