Speech by the Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Prof. Hlengiwe Mkhize, MP, on the occasion of  the SA Women in ICT Forum Launch, 31 July 2014

Southern Sun Hotel (Verona Suite), Montecasino, Fourways

Programme Director, Ms Lulama Nogongo

DDG Reneva Fourie on behalf of the Department

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning

As we stand on the eve of Women’s month, it gives me great pleasure to join you in launching the South African Women in ICTs Forum.  I assume you have chosen 31 July to launch this forum as you did not want the importance of the role of women in ICTs to be overshadowed by other gender focal matters that will be raised during the month of August.

Firstly, let me congratulate and sincerely thank your steering committee and our officials who have worked tireously for all of us to be proudly associated with this vision and the dream. Today the industrial age is being overtaken by the digital revolution.  Nothing precludes women from being at the forefront of this revolution.  In fact, the vision of the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services is to position South Africa as a global leader in the development and use of information and communication technologies for socio-economic development.  

The mandate of the department is to create a vibrant ICT sector that ensures that all South Africans have access to affordable and reliable ICT services in order to advance domestic development and growth, support the African agenda and build a better world.

Our mandate is informed by an appreciation that every South African has a right to information.  

Earlier this year the department released SA Connect, our Broadband Policy and Strategy.  This strategy seeks to coordinate the investment in and roll-out of broadband based on an assessment of existing investment initiatives and the current uptake and usage of the internet.  It also seeks to ensure that we fully exploit the opportunities that the digital environment has to offer with regards to content development, the design of applications that speaks to South Africa’s developmental needs, the creation of jobs in the ICT sector and appropriate capacity development. 

Women should be at the centre of the revolution, your forum is well positioned to constantly raise questions not only about yourself but also about the inclusion and growth paths for other women; younger women; women in rural communities; women in the continent and the world.

As the custodian of the ICT policy, the DTPS is working with other relevant government departments and entities across the three spheres and key stakeholders to promote exposure of women to the benefits of ICTs and to develop their skills to participate in the ICT arena with confidence.  As part of our contribution to Women’s Month we will be establishing an intergovernmental forum to align our ICT and gender empowerment initiatives; and by the end of this year we would have released our Gender in ICT strategy.  This work will be aligned to the broader work on Gender Equity being driven by the Ministry of Women.  

In respect of our capacity development initiatives, we have set up a dedicated institution namely Ikamva National e-Skills Institute that focuses on e-skilling the country and our aim is to ensure that in all programs at least 60 percent of the beneficiaries are women. 

I hope we will all work together in planning exhibitions showing career paths in the ICT sector so that younger girls could develop interest quite early in their education. We should all be ambassadors for Mathematics, Physical Science and IT engineering related subjects. We need to broaden opportunities for skills development through specialised Colleges, Universities of Technologies. We need more PHD graduates who will be interested in researching and development. 

As Government we are looking at ways of improving the budget for innovation. In this sector in particular, I believe women could be innovative and take us beyond being consumers to being producers, locally of needed technologies.

Another key target group of the department disabled women.  Although we have started working on this area and we have a dedicated approved strategy focussing on Disability and ICTs, I do believe there is a lot to be done if all South Africans are to enjoy the benefit of ICT without experiencing difficulties as a result of any form of discrimination including on the grounds of disability. Therefore one of our main interventions is to connect at least 25 schools attended by disabled children in this financial year.

Monitoring commitment to the empowerment of women is essential.  All the work is futile if it does not have the desired impact.  

The department has a mechanism in place to audit the state owned companies reporting to us on their institutional capacity and mechanisms to effect gender parity and advance women empowerment and we hope that it is replicated within the private sector and that this South African Women in ICT Forum will play an instrumental role in holding industry accountable.  

The transformation agenda in this industry, calls for a sense of urgency. Out of the 51.8 million people in South Africa, about 25.2 million are male and 26.6 million are female.  When we look at the percentage of women that are using technology, particularly mobile phone adoption, we are almost on par with men. Our financial spend on telephony almost equals that of men, despite the general huge salary gap that exists between men and women.  And while we lag behind with regard to internet usage a number of women are using it.  But this willingness of women to embrace technology is not reflected in the current employee, management and ownership structure of the ICT sector.  

There is inadequate access to economic opportunities for women within the ICT sector.  Resources used within the ICT sector are not user friendly to women especially disabled women.  And when it comes to women in the media, the portrayal reinforces patriarchal stereotypes on the characters and roles of women. 

The South African Women in ICT Forum must be responsible for championing transformation at the level of industry.  It must ensure that women are supported to swell the ranks in the field of ICTs and take up our rightful space in the management and ownership of this sector.    

Our interest as government is firstly informed by our determination to see more women lead in ICT uptake and usage and the South African Women in ICT Forum is a key structure for holding industry accountable; but our interest is also to remove any policy impediments or blockages to gender transformation within this sector.  For this reason we also view the South African Women in ICT Forum as an important think tank that can feed into our policies.  

I have prioritised attending this launch because the inclusion of gender into ICT policy in South Africa has been a result of a “consensual vision” built by the country’s women from across different walks of life; and because government must ensure that ICTs are used to affirm women both in economic life and generally in society.  

I wish to reiterate the commitment of the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services to promoting women’s empowerment and achieving gender equity within the ICT sector. You can count on our continued support for this newly formed South African Women and ICT Forum. We will use our policies and regulatory framework to support your transformation agenda so that you are at all levels, from inclusion to ownership.

Malibongwe!