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Former President Thabo Mbeki receives a gift from the mayor of Thulamela, Cllr Grace Mahosi, and the Univen rector, Prof Peter Mbati.
Former President Thabo Mbeki has encouraged South African citizens to report any person who abuses women, so that they can be sent to jail.
In his address during a Symposium on gender mainstreaming and representation at the workplace, held in the auditorium of Univen on Monday afternoon, Mbeki said that the days where women were treated as less than men were over. "I remember that a person once said women must continue to love and care for their husbands, even when they are beaten or abused. If you hear a person saying such things, you must report him to the police, so that they can lock him away," said Mbeki.
Besides legislation that promotes the emancipation of women, Mbeki said South Africa and other countries were still failing to implementing them. "Without the achievement of implementing this legislation, women will still face poverty, unemployment and inequality, even though they are in the majority. Our democracy must respond to the demands and concerns of women," said Mbeki.
He added that women lost chances of promotion and salary increments because of family commitments and responsibilities such as breastfeeding. He said that girls lagged behind in their studies because of the responsibilities of fetching firewood and water from the river, while boys could concentrating in their studies.
"Because of these challenges, we have fewer girls at primary schools, but that changes at tertiary levels as we started to see more girls than boys," said Mbeki, while adding that the majority of boys dropped out of schools for different reasons.
He also mentioned that research found that the household income of female-headed families was smaller than those of the male-headed families.
Date:17 August 2015
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