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23 August 2008

Programme Director,
National and Deputy Chair,
Secretary General of the Disabled People South Africa,
Leadership,
Delegates,
And all protocol observed

Introduction

It gives me pleasure to address the Disabled People South Africa's Disability Dialogue Conference on "Harnessing opportunities for disabled women for a better life for all" especially because, as indicated by the chairperson, we are in the month of August. We cannot talk about the struggle for the emancipation of women without talking of disabled people, and women in general. This is not on our individual efforts, but the history of our people. When we think of August, we think of the women who marched in 1956; 20 000 women marched and made sure that women did not have to carry the burden of men folk.

Just as those women chose to reject oppression, we should also ensure that we retain and build on the efforts of those women of 1956, the women of 1930, as well as our future. I quote from the pre-amble of our national constitution "We, the people of South Africa, recognise the injustices of our past. Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity. We therefore, through our freely elected representatives, adopt this Constitution as the supreme law of the republic so as to heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights; lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law; improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person; and build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations."

This, thus, links to what the chairperson spoke of; triple oppression and the abuse of human rights. In the struggle, triple oppression was based on gender, class and race. Women, however, are not a homogenous group, thus it was not triple, but quadruple oppression. I would like to emphasise that patriarchy is existent, and men and women need to stand together to fight it. If discrimination is alive, it means we are not doing our job. The onus is on us. We have a sound constitution. We cannot blame the state. The preamble of the constitution is very clear. We need to make sure that the people's will is generated. The constitution as well as parliament ensures that we have recourse and a legal space to engage. I am personally honoured by the vibrancy I experienced when I entered the room. I must also say that I like the song that says 'My mother was a kitchen girl; my father was a garden boy, that is why I'm a communist.'

I recognise, chairperson that the Disabled People South Africa's invitation is in fact a follow-up to the speech that our deputy president delivered during the Disabled People South Africa Biennial National Assembly that was held on 6 December 2006 at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Durban.

I would therefore like to focus my input on the need for economic development for women with disabilities by demonstrating how improving women's economic status, can lead to a dramatic acceleration of development and the reduction of rural poverty among women with disabilities.

Women, as stated earlier, constitute the poorest group in South Africa, and are more likely to be unemployed or under-employed. Poverty has a woman's face. The challenge is to ensure that South Africa's macro-economic strategies promote economic growth and sufficiently address the differential impact of macro-economic policy on various groups of people regardless of class, race, age, gender, location and disability.

The issue of rural women's economic empowerment has increasingly become central to the mission of enabling rural poor people to overcome poverty. It needs to be stressed that rural poverty cannot be overcome without women's leadership, full economic opportunity, and an expanded role in decision making. Advancements in women's economic positions improve their social status, bring benefits to their families and enhance their role in communities. Women with disabilities obviously need to be actively involved in decision-making processes about policies and programmes, including those that directly affect them, in order to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms; after all, the motto is nothing about us without us.

We have an obligation to provide women with disabilities and rural women with resources necessary to develop their skills and talents in order that they can combat poverty, patriarchy, injustices and discrimination. We will not do it for, but with them. This will enable them to continue to make positive contributions to the country as a whole. The Constitution affords women the full protection of the law as they assert their right to equality.

Our Constitution guarantees the rights of people with disabilities to fully participate in all aspects of society, as well as enjoy equal access to opportunities on an equal basis with the rest of society. Any barriers to the enjoyment of such rights, once identified, must be eliminated. Full participation by people with disabilities is restricted by three inter-related barriers, and these are access, discrimination and negative attitudes, and poor economic status.

Decent work for women with disabilities is central to their economic development and upward mobility. Women with disabilities are capable of doing meaningful and productive work. We should acknowledge that the waste of human potential that unemployment ensures is not justified on the grounds that people with disabilities are not capable of working or are often absent from work – as we often find that the opposite is true. High unemployment and limited opportunities are caused by ignorance, by prejudice, and reluctance to make even minor changes to support people with disabilities, and discrimination in education and training which means people with disabilities are less qualified than their peers. The main reason that we haven't met our two percent target is because of lack of skills. We need to work harder on skilling. We need to make sure that we have a database of interns through the president's office wherefrom we are able to draw these skills.

When women have secure access to resources, and are able to take advantage of economic opportunities, they have the capacity to become powerful agents of change and social transformation. They can transform their own lives and the lives of their families and communities. With improved economic status, women's confidence and self-esteem increase. They tend to become more involved in community decision-making that can in turn lead to changes in social practices and relationships, and mobilise social action.

We know that barriers imposed by societal attitudes and inaccessibility of work opportunities have the effect of preventing women with disabilities from participating fully in society and in their place of employment. The inclusive public service is hard at work seeking to eliminate all these.

Recognising that women with disabilities can be prone to multi-pronged forms of discrimination, it becomes the duty of the workplace as well as the society at large to ensure that all forms of discrimination and oppression against women with disabilities are identified and eliminated. This will have the effect of enabling women with disabilities to freely harness opportunities for personal growth and development.

The public service strategies

The public service as an employer has introduced a variety of measures and initiatives aimed at enhancing the capacity and employability of persons with disabilities. These are opportunities that the public service is committed to, in ensuring that women with disabilities, both rural and urban, can be able to access.

In this regard, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has developed two strategic frameworks, namely: the JobAccess Strategic Framework on the Recruitment, Employment and Retention of Persons with Disabilities in the Public Service and the Gender Equality Strategic Framework. The JobAccess advocates for various measures that must be adopted by departments in ensuring, the enhancement of capacity in people with disabilities, with a view to widening the pool of skilled people with disabilities from which to recruit for employment, while the Gender Equality Strategic Framework seeks to ensure gender equality through empowerment of women and the attainment of employment equity targets, specifically at the senior management levels in the public service. This is with the view of broadening our skills pool.

The JobAccess Strategic Framework can be viewed, in the context of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as one of the "appropriate steps" taken by the Republic of South Africa to meet the obligations placed upon it by Article 27(1). The ultimate objective of these frameworks is to ensure that the public service as an employer is truly representative of the society that it serves.

In terms of JobAccess, organisations like the Disabled People South Africa, the Federal Council on Disability as well as all other organisations that are affiliated to them will play a pivotal role in ensuring the success of the Public Service JobAccess strategy. Collaborative partnerships will strongly benefit women and men with disabilities in their quest to develop and ensure that they enter the public service employment arena.

Envisaged workplace interventions

The workplaces, both in the private and the public sector need to take a conscious effort to ensure the creation of an enabling environment for men and women with disabilities. Employers need to adopt a multi-pronged approach or set of initiatives in order to realise this end.

One of the main premises of the philosophy of 'equality of opportunity', in general and in the context of disability, is that every human being has something to contribute to humanity and that social structures should be built inclusively with human empowerment as a key goal. Thus full 'equality of opportunity' for women with disabilities entails structural changes and preparing people for greater participation.

The public service ensures equalisation of opportunities at the workplace through the acknowledgement that disability responsive recruitment, selection and retention strategies must be put in place, and that there is a strong adherence to our equity legislative enactments and other measures. The objective is to ensure that a workplace inclusive of people with disabilities is created. It needs to be emphasised at this point that people with disabilities, and particularly women, can apply for any advertised post in the public service. The only justifiable ground for discriminating against a person falling within a particular designated group, including women with disabilities, is on the ground of the inherent requirements of the job.

Employing people with disabilities goes hand in hand with the need to retain them. The retention of people with disabilities requires that the workplace be accommodative of people with disabilities. There is therefore a need to ensure that reasonable accommodation measures and accessibility are in place. The retention strategy includes affording opportunities for development and upward mobility for women with disabilities.

The public service ensures that women with disabilities are reasonable accommodated at the workplace. This positive normative development offers great benefits for women with disabilities and the employer. The public service commits itself to the provision of such support as is reasonably required by women with disabilities to enable them to perform their functions.

The Department of Public Service and Administration has developed a handbook on Reasonable Accommodation and Accessibility for People with Disabilities. It is intended to serve as a guide to all Heads of Department (HoDs), Human Resources Managers, line managers, persons dealing with disability issues as well as employees with disabilities.

In conclusion, disabilities cut across all cultural, geographical and socio-economic communities in our society, all of us who have been involved see the significance where women with disabilities work together to ensure that issues specific to them are recognised and considered. These endeavours will assist in levelling the playing ground for women with disabilities.

It needs to be further stated that no country can justly claim to be a full democracy and liberated until patriarchy and oppression of women, in particular those with disabilities has been eliminated. We need to deepen the dialogue in order to bring diverse experiences and perspectives to the fore, and build bridges where necessary, because if we want to change society, we need to ensure inclusivity when we include women, especially women with disabilities.

I thank you!

Issued by: Ministry Public Service and Administration
23 August 2008