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The Women’s Parliament has heard that women in disadvantaged communities often miss out on empowerment opportunities due to lack of information and patriarchal societal expectations, which force them to stay at home.
This observation was shared by gender activists during panel discussions on economic inclusion, the care economy and climate change on the second day of the Women’s Parliament this week.
The Chairperson of the National Youth Development Agency, Dr Surprise Myende, called for transformative policies to be put in place to empower women. “In South Africa, women perform the majority of household duties and caregiving due to entrenched gender roles and expectation. Many women are unable to participate in formal employment and skills development or entrepreneurial opportunities because they are forced to be home makers.
“South Africa requires transformative government policies, if we are serious about empowering women. We must ask how government can be used as a vehicle towards that. It is therefore paramount that care work be recognised as an economic sector. Measures such as funding childcare facilities are important programmes but there is room for improvement,” she said.
These sentiments were echoed by Ms Sarah Mokwebo of the Should All Be Feminists Collective who gave a presentation on the impact of climate change on women. She argued that climate change is not gender neutral and that women and girls often bear the brunt of it. “Home duties such as fetching water in times of drought takes away their time from being economically active or accessing education because they have the responsibility, which is enforced by patriarchy. And women are also the ones expected to look after other family members when they are sick or when there is a crisis such as displacements because of floods or fires,” she said.
Ms Mokwebo suggested that women should be taught how to respond to natural disasters occurring due to climate change. She is also concerned about the wording of information about climate change, which she feels fails to educate communities effectively. “We need to improve our public education on climate change. And through parliamentary processes and all forms of lobbying, we need to ensure that women participate in the green economy,” said Ms Mokwebo.
Another panellist, Ms Reneé Thompson, questioned the impact of the Women’s Parliament. “We speak about this in every Women’s Parliament: economic exclusion and women empowerment. The opportunities are there but they cannot be accessed by women on the ground due to various structural barriers,” she said.
She was also concerned that increased representation of women in various sectors has not translated into better lives for women on the ground. In an effort to ensure the participation of more women from disadvantaged communities, Ms Thompson suggested that the Women’s Parliament should take the format of the Taking Parliament to the People programme to reach out to all women, not only the privileged who are able to travel to Parliament.
Sakhile Mokoena
15 August 2025
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