Johannesburg: Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, has called for structural women's empowerment that rejects discrimination and advances equality, economic ownership, and women's leadership, while reflecting on the gains made since the advent of democracy. Letsike was addressing women at the Fray Media and Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Rise and Shine Women in Media Breakfast, held under the theme: 'Empowered women empower the nation.'
According to South African Government News Agency, Letsike emphasized that empowerment should not be limited to a few exceptional women escaping a structure that continues to oppress millions. She advocated for a collective redesign of that structure, ensuring that future generations of women do not have to endure the same violence, exclusion, and exhaustion. The Deputy Minister highlighted the transformative impact of democracy on the legal and political status of women, noting that these are substantial changes rather than superficial ones.
Letsike pointed out that democratic South Africa has expanded reproductive freedom, strengthened protections against domestic and sexual violence, recognized women in customary marriages, and advanced equality in employment. She provided statistics showing that women's representation in Parliament increased from 33% in 2004 to 42.8% in 2024. In the National Council of Provinces, women's representation reached 44.4%, while representation in senior public service management rose to 45.2% in 2023. Furthermore, more women with tertiary qualifications have entered fields such as physical, mathematical, and engineering disciplines.
The Deputy Minister outlined the need for a care compact built on five commitments: recognizing care, reducing its labor, redistributing it among women, men, the state, and the market, rewarding paid care workers with decent conditions, and ensuring care workers are represented in decisions that affect them. She advocated for accessible early childhood development, support for older persons and persons with disabilities, reliable water and transport services, social protection, parental leave that influences men's behavior, and gender-responsive budgets.
Letsike also urged women to confront workplace harassment disguised as humor or harmless comments. She highlighted that remarks about a woman's health, body, clothing, voice, sexuality, marital status, motherhood, or ambition are often trivialized as jokes, with women expected to tolerate them or risk being labeled negatively. She stressed that derogatory jokes are not harmless and that humor does not neutralize humiliation.
Finally, Letsike expressed the importance of building an information economy in South Africa where women own institutions, shape technology, and receive a fair share of public and commercial value. She concluded by stating that the country should move from visibility to ownership, from representation to redistribution, and from policy promise to lived freedom.