A Research on the Institution and the Women's Policy for the Improvement of the Status of Women in the Republic of South Affica

• Project/Area Number: 13837028
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: ジェンダー
• Research Institution: Kokugakuin University
• Principal Investigator: TANAKA Kazuko Kokugakuin University, Faculty of Law, Professor, 法学部, 教授 (50146742)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): HASHIMOTO Hiroko Jumonji University, Faculty of Social and Information Sciences, Professor, 社会情報学部, 教授 (60286119)
• Project Period (FY): 2001 – 2003
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2003)
• Budget Amount: ¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000); Fiscal Year 2003: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000); Fiscal Year 2002: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000); Fiscal Year 2001: ¥300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥300,000)
• Keywords: national machinery / national gender machinery / gender mainstreaming / gender audit / gender budget / women's policy / policy for gender equality / political participation of women / 女性政策機構 / ジェンダーの主流化 / ジェンダー予想 / 国内本部機構

Research Abstract

1 Structure, function and problems of the national gender machinery (NGM)
(1) NGM in the Republic of South Africa (SA), which consists of parliament, government administration, independent statutory bodies and the civil society, has been well established as an institutional framework.
(2) However, the NGM as process has not necessarily been working well because of the lack of capacity of two main players of NGM, the Office of the Status of Women (OSW) and Gender Focal Points (GFPs) in government departments.
(3) Although the Commission for Gender Equality, which is unique for the national machinery in South Africa, is an independent body, it has been facing the issue of independence and the lack of financial and human resources.
2 South Africa's National Policy Framework for Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality, which is the base for the women's policy in SA, is quite inclusive as a framework, but its implementation much depends on how much the GFPs can improve their capacity to carry out gender mainstreaming in their departments.
3 As clarified by the South Africa's National Gender Audit, the workings of the Gender Management System (GMS) is still partial, and mechanisms and processes of the GMS have not been well developed yet.
4 As a whole, because of the high political will is not matching to the administrative will, the administrative system aiming at gender mainstreaming has not yet been fully established in SA, thus is still short to be a comprehensive model for Japan.