Modjaji books and collaboration with universities 39

GENDER TRANSFORMATION SYMPOSIUM REPORT

5 importance of gender transformation in Higher education 6

This is the summary of the presentation by Tamara Mathebula, the National Chairperson of the Commission for Gender Equality(CGE)

south africa’s 1996 Constitution promotes equality and compliance with international treaties aimed at eliminating discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, age, and disability. in line with the Constitution, the government promulgated the Promotion of equality and Prevention of unfair Discrimination act (PePuDa) of 2000, which prohibits gender-based discrimination and provides for remedies to protect people against such discrimination. The act obliges those operating in the public domain to promote equality. south africa is also a signatory to a number of international treaties, such as the Convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women (CeDaw); the southern african Development Community (saDC) Declaration on women; the african union (au) Protocol on the rights of women in africa; and international labour Organization conventions.

The ilO conventions seek to entrench gender equality in the workplace, for example, by insisting on equal pay for work of equal value, irrespective of gender; and the adoption of national policies to promote equal treatment in employment and recruitment and access to opportunities, including through vocational training, with a view to eliminating discrimination in this area. equality in the workplace is also the subject of a range of domestic laws, including the employment equity act (eea) of 1996, which may be used as a yardstick to analyses the policies and practices adopted at tertiary institutions; the labour relations act (lra) of 1995; the Basic Conditions of employment act of 1997; the skills Development act of 1998; and the Broad-Based Black economic empowerment (B-BBee) act of 2003. employers are enjoined by these statutes to create equal employment opportunities for women and people with disabilities, as well as other disadvantaged groups, and to remove the barriers to their entry, advancement, development, remuneration and retention. The eea: • Promotes skills development for the disadvantaged; • Established the Commission for employment equity to ensure employers promote equal opportunity and eliminate discriminatory hiring practices; • Makes employers responsible for training and developing women in the workplace; • Removes obstacles in relation to the promotion of women; • Obliges employers to narrow wage gaps between employees of different sexes who perform similar work; and

6 This section draws on a presentation made by Tamara Mathebula, Chairperson: CGe, and comments made by sixolile Ngcobo, CGe, at the Gender Transformation symposium held by CPuT on 26-27 august 2019.