BETWEEN POLICY AND REALITY: ASSESSING THE MAINSTREAMING OF GENDER IN GAUTENG

Abstract

Gender has been in the development agenda since the 1950s with different approaches being adopted to address gender equality and transform gender relations. Governments, civil society and scholars have sought to participate in the gender discourse by suggesting strategies and approaches that would be effective in addressing inequalities. Central to the current debates is the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming to address gender inequalities. This research report investigates the reasons for an apparent lack of transformation and delivery in the area of gender. It seeks to understand factors that contribute to the status quo within the Gauteng Provincial Government with specific reference to the role that the Office of the Premier (OoP) performs on behalf of the GPG departments. The study departs from a premise that acknowledges that South Africa has sound and progressive legislative and policy framework on gender mainstreaming. It therefore attempted to unearth some of the salient issues that hinder the implementation of the gender policies. To this end, the findings indicate that there is ample commitment and support from the political arm of the provincial government. What remains a challenge is the actual implementation of the policy framework by officials from all the GPG departments. The study has also revealed that, this could be attributed to a couple of issues, such as, lack of understanding of the concept gender, officials not being abreast with the evolution process of gender as a discourse, the technical nature of the tools proposed in the policy framework, lack of seriousness on the part of senior mangers and the apparent flaws in the policy formulation processes. Part of the recommendations made in the study is that the OoP should play a more visible role in the province and make gender a performance issue for managers