Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, has underscored the need for a holistic approach that addresses both the immediate and underlying factors behind gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF). Chikunga made the remarks during a dialogue on Women, Democracy and Leadership in South Africa, held at the University of South Africa (UNISA) on Thursday. Chikunga, together with UNISA and the United Nations Women, hosted a dialogue, which looked deeply at women's representation and administrative arrangements needed to achieve a gender-responsive government. Chikunga said government has come to terms with the fact that laws alone will not prevent the killing of women. 'Despite being a constitutionally assured right, women continue to live in fear, grappling with alarming rates of gender-based violence and femicide. This remains a deeply entrenched problem with multifaceted roots, including historical inequalities, cultural norms, economic dispar ities, and systemic failures in law enforcement and justice systems,' Chikunga said. Government has passed several laws, including the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1997, Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998, Protection from Harassment Act 17 of 2011, Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, Promotion of Women's Rights, Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill, and the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Act 9 of 2024. However, to effectively prevent and combat GBVF, Chikunga said a holistic approach is needed, 'one that addresses both the immediate and underlying factors'. Significant strides in women representation Reflecting on the journey travelled by women over the past three decades of the country's democratic dispensation, Chikunga said over the past 30 years, the country has seen significant strides in ensuring women representation in decision-making and law-making circles. Today, women make up 43.5% of the Parliament of National Unity, holding 171 of the 400 s eats, an increase from 28% representation in 1994. 'Of the 75 Executive Members appointed in June 2024, 32 are women, representing 42.66%. Fourteen of the 32 Cabinet positions are held by women, and 18 of the 43 Deputy Minister positions are held by women,' Chikunga said. The Minister emphasised the substantive contribution that women should make once in such positions. 'As we celebrate the strides that we have made, we also give due consideration to the tasks that remain undone, [these include] the need to drive inclusive growth and job creation; to reduce poverty and to tackle the high cost of living, and the task of building a capable, ethical, and developmental state. We remain mindful of the fact that in each of these priority areas, women are the most affected,' Chikunga said. The Minister also highlighted significant progress made towards the fight against HIV/Aids, particularly in the rollout of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for pregnant women, and an increasing number of students that have gained access to education, especially higher education from which they were previously excluded due to their social class or marginalised race or ethnic group. Redefining advocacy to address plight of businesswomen Chikunga also stressed the importance of redefining advocacy and mainstreaming to be strategy-programmes-goals-oriented and action-driven, to address the plight of women in business, government, farm workers, mining, and the unemployed. 'We need to advocate and mainstream women, youth and persons with disabilities across all sectors, with a focused lens on industries with high potential for growth and development. 'We need to ring-fence funds in the budget to ensure implementation of women, youth and persons with disabilities socio-economic empowerment, starting with the allocation of change oriented -budget allocation for the department, which need to reflect intentional implementation of the gender planning and budgeting framework,' Chikunga said. Source : South African Government News Agency