Source: South African Government News Agency 
Women empowerment and gender equality are key to sustainable economic development and transformation, says Trade and Industry (dti) Minister Rob Davies.

Speaking at a Women's Day celebration on Friday, the Minister said that women must be fully incorporated into the development strategies and decision

making processes of South Africa as active participants, to ensure the country operates at full capacity.

While gender inequality continues to be a challenge, much progress has been made in integrating women in key decision-making roles in government but to a limited extend in the corporate sector.

"In the spirit of promoting a shared understanding of the challenges and commitment to finding new solutions, platforms of dialogue need to be created to engage women and corporate leaders in various sectors to identify their needs and challenges, but also opportunities and successes to feed into policy making decisions," said the Minister.

He further said that gender equality and women empowerment were not just a matter of interest to women, but it is actually a task that ought to be embraced by all South Africans.

Minister Davies said that current economic and political developments have presented South African women with both new obstacles and new opportunities to wield influence.

Director-General of the dti, Lionel October, said that women were still lagging behind men in terms of the share of employed women versus men in formal employment.

He added that this included a significant shortage of women in terms of women managers and professionals, with women concentrated in low-paying occupations.

"Women and men should have equal rights and access to education, health, housing, employment and other necessities. One important right for women is education, as it is a platform to enable women to participate in the economy. It creates opportunities for them to lift their families and communities out of poverty," said October.

• South Africa