Why we need a separate commission for gender equality

Abstract

The brief considers the recommendations of a 2007 report (known colloquially as the Asmal Report) which argues for the eventual consolidation of all constitutional Chapter 9 institutions within a single body. It also reports the findings of a twenty-year review of the CGE conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in 2016 and presents the most recent official statistics on violence against women. Given the nature and scale of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa ??? herein understood to be violence perpetrated by men against women ??? the authors argue that the country needs a dedicated body to lead efforts to tackle this scourge. We submit that not only should the CGE be retained as a separate Chapter 9 institution, but that it should be capacitated, through the allocation of additional resources, to the point that it is able to make a demonstrable impact on the achievement of non-sexism, gender equality and the concomitant reduction of GBV.