By Kristin Palitza
DURBAN, Sep 11 2008 (IPS)

South African women in business welcomed the recently-signed South African Development Community (SADC) Gender and Development Protocol, but are sceptical about its ability to truly achieve greater gender equality in business and trade.

The Gender and Development Protocol signed in Johannesburg by heads of state of the SADC region at the end of August intends to ensure equal rights for women across a wide range of issues, including constitutional and legal reform, governance, education, productive resources, gender-based violence, health, peace-building and conflict resolution.

It also aims to make certain that women have equal access to land, and participate equally in trade and entrepreneurship including access to state procurement opportunities.

"We hope that since gender issues were profiled in such an important forum and signed off by important players, the protocol will translate into a real difference for women entrepreneurs," says Yvette Montalbano, CEO of the Businesswomen Association of South Africa (BWASA).

Because women represent the majority of the poor, the unemployed and the dispossessed in Southern Africa, the signing of the protocol was described by gender experts as a timely and critical move to equalise opportunities in the region.

A 2005 special report on women entrepreneurs by the national Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) and the South African Women’s Entrepreneur Network (SAWEN) found that 42 percent of South African women only earn between R1 and R750 ($0.13 and $95) per month because they are involved in lower-level occupations.

"It is high time for action. South Africa still doesn’t have enough women owning businesses," says Nditsheni Maanda, training and media manager at the Nisaa Institute for Women’s Development. "Women entrepreneurs continue to be regarded as a risk and discriminated based on their gender."

In South Africa, men are almost twice as likely to be involved in entrepreneurship than women, according to the DTI study. The biggest hurdle for women entrepreneurs remains equal access to capital.

"Women still have a much harder time than men to get finance for their businesses," Maanda explains. "Access to capital is by far and large the biggest stumbling block, although statistics show that women actually pose lower risk (than men) because they pay back debts more consistently."

But many women who try to start up an enterprise fall short at the first obstacle – getting finance – and either have to rely on personal savings to set up their business or say goodbye to the idea.

The few South African businesswomen who manage to clear the financial hurdle continue to face many challenges. Once in business, they have to fight persistent inequity and discrimination when trying to compete with men. "Getting an equal chance to break into markets remains a huge barrier for women," says Montalbano.

Apart from access to capital, women require advanced technical and management skills as well as legal protection to benefit from the equality targets and increased opportunities the protocol might bring once implemented. There also needs to be more recognition of the dual role women play in their homes and workplaces.

"We need to encourage women to be independent, and to achieve this, it is vital that women have better access to education," explains Maanda. "So the education target of the protocol is basically the building block of the protocol, the key to women’s empowerment."

The Gender Protocol's 23 targets are the result of a process that started with the audit of SADC’s Declaration on Gender and Development in 2005 and its addendum on Preventing and Eradicating Gender-Based Violence.

"Up until now, gender transformation has been happening far too slowly, but we are very hopeful that the implementation of the protocol will translate into operational changes for business women on the ground," says Montalbano.

But for now, organisations like BWASA remain only cautiously optimistic; the protocol still requires ratification by two thirds of SADC member states before coming into force.

Maanda stresses that the key is speedy and effective implementation of the SADC Gender and Development Protocol to bring change. "The protocol must not remain just a piece of paper. If it is put into practice properly, it will uplift and empower a lot of women in the region," she believes. "But we need to start implementing right now if we want to meet the targets by 2015."

A key factor to successful implementation is close collaboration between government departments and civil society organisations, Maanda reckons: "We often fail when it comes to implementation of policies because government and civil society are divided and don’t cooperate."

Moreover, governments need to set specific timeframes to meet the targets set out in the protocol, followed up by effective monitoring and evaluation, she says: "We will all have to take ownership if we want to make it happen." Since the protocol still has to be ratified, such timeframes and monitoring strategies are yet to be put into place.

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