PUBLIC HEARINGS ON THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO A COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM FOR SOUTH AFRICA TO BE HELD ON THE 9TH AND 10TH OF JUNE 2003

PUBLIC HEARINGS ON THE REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO A COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM FOR SOUTH AFRICA TO BE HELD ON THE 9^TH AND 10^TH OF JUNE 2003

SUBMISSION BY THE GENDER RESEARCH PROJECT OF THE CENTRE FOR APPLIED LEGAL STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND

4 JUNE 2003

Introduction
The Gender Research Project (GRP) of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand engages in research and advocacy that is committed to the realisation of gender equality within the context of human rights for all. The GRP currently focuses on the three main obstacles to improving the lives of women in South Africa – HIV/AIDS, poverty and violence against women. We are involved in a project on gender and social security that looks at the rights of women within the right to social security offered by our Constitution. It specifically focuses on the barriers faced by women in trying to access the government’s Child Support Grant (CSG).

The GRP, while supporting much of the discussion and many of the recommendations in the report of the Committee of Inquiry into a Comprehensive Social Security System for South Africa (‘Taylor Report’), wishes to make certain additional observations and recommendations on this issue for consideration by the Portfolio Committee. In summary, we recommend the following:

The gendered dimensions of poverty must be understood for the purpose of development planning;
The need for gender equality must inform detailed planning of a comprehensive social protection package. Women’s practical and strategic gender needs must be addressed.;
Free child care should be provided to all who need it. Primary care givers of children, the sick, elderly and disabled should be assisted in order to enable them to seek work, engage in income generating activities and other household labour. They should be remunerated for their caring work;
1.4 The following improvements to the Child Support Grant (CSG) are needed:

-The CSG must be extended to all children under 18.
-The amount of the CSG must be increased.
-The means test must be scrapped.
-The identification requirements must be relaxed.
-The delivery mechanisms must be improved.
-Women must be provided with safe access to grants free from harassment and fear.
-Primary Care Givers who are in school must be able to collect grants on Saturdays or after school hours.
-Grant recipients should be educated on their right to send other people to collect grants on their behalf and to use alternative methods of collection such as banks, post offices etc where these are available. Free banking must be negotiated for all grant recipients. New and more cost effective collection systems must be developed, especially for the rural poor.

1.5 A Basic Income Grant is supported. The grant needs to be accompanied by strategies to empower women householders to use the money collectively and to encourage men to make joint decisions with women regarding the best interests of the household.

Poverty has a gender
The Report provides an important insight into the extent and nature of poverty and inequality in our country. We wish to emphasise and add to the analysis of poverty by showing how women encounter their poverty in a particular way in the society.

The poorest households in South Africa are headed by women. 37% of female-headed households in rural areas (as against 23% of male-headed households) were among the poorest quintile of households in South Africa. In urban areas, 15% of female-headed households were among the poorest quintile of households (as against 5% of male-headed households) (Central Statistical Service, Earning and Spending in South Africa, 1997, as reported in Budlender, D (1998) Women and Men in South Africa, StatsSA). 48% of women in South Africa live in poverty, as compared to 44% of men. In rural areas these percentages rise to 70% of women and 65% of men (as reported in Baden et al (1998) Country Gender Profile: South Africa)

Women have less access to land and agriculture. Women have been denied access to land and property under customary law. (Cross, C (1999) ‘Women and Land in the Rural Crisis’ in Agenda 12; Department of Land Affairs, (1997) White Paper on Land)

Women have less access to jobs. They hold the lowest paid jobs within the formal sector and face the worst conditions within the informal sector. 37% of all women engage in at least one economic activity, as compared to 49% of men. Within each population group, the unemployment rate is higher for women than for men. The official unemployment rate is highest among urban African women (35.7%) Formal sector work is least common among African women (38%). Non-domestic informal sector work is most common among them (42%). 40% of employed women ages 15-65 are in unskilled occupations, as compared to 20% of employed men within this age group. In 2001, 19% of employed women earned R200 or less per month, compared to 9% of men. 14% of women earned more than R4500 per month, compared to 23% of men. Within each population group, mean hourly earnings are higher for men than for women. (Labour Force Survey, February 2001, as reported in Women and Men in South Africa: Five Years On, 2001).

Women are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. 12.8% of women in South Africa are HIV positive, as compared to 9.8% of men (2002 Nelson Mandela/ HSRC report).

Women face extreme levels of domestic violence, rape, and sexual harassment and fear of these limits their ability to participate fully in public life. (Human Rights Watch, Violence against women in South Africa 1997). This also places constraints on women’s participation in decision making in the home and family.

There is a sexual division of labour within the household. Women perform a far greater share of the housework and child care than do men. Employed African women spend an average of 230 minutes per day on unpaid housework, care of other household members and collection of fuel and water, as compared to an average of 83 minutes per day spent on these tasks by employed African men. (Time Use Survey 2000, as reported in Women and Men in South Africa: Five Years On, 2001, hereafter referred to as ‘TUS’)

Lack of access to services has a disproportionately negative effect on women. Women are the ones who are expected to collect water and fuel and to travel to rivers to wash clothes etc. They spend many hours a day on these activities. When a water source is 1km or more from the household dwelling, female members of the household are almost three times more likely than male members to collect water. They spend an average of 71 minutes per day on this task. (TUS 2000) Similarly, women are more likely than men to collect fuel (wood or dung) for cooking purposes. They spend on average between 78 and 128 minutes per day on this task. (TUS 2000)

Illiteracy, ignorance and disempowerment act as barriers to accessing services, opportunities etc. 18% of African women aged 25 and older have no formal schooling while 62% of them have incomplete schooling. (Women and Men in SA, Stats SA 2002)

As a result, women face hunger, ill health, exhaustion, fear and worry in much higher proportions than do men in our society. As the Taylor Report (at page 41) recognises, poverty is not just about income and assets: it is also about the life experiences and opportunities people have of living a fulfilled human existence. ‘Unequal social and political circumstances give women unequal human capabilities’. (Nussbaum, M in Molyneux, M and Razavi, S (2002) Gender Justice, Development and Rights)

Recommendation: The gendered dimensions of poverty must be understood for the purpose of development planning.

A gendered approach to a Comprehensive Social Security System

The GRP agrees with the broad framework and approach of the Taylor report regarding a comprehensive social protection package. The package must however, take into account the constitutional requirement and the urgent need to address gender inequality.

It is widely accepted that government policies have the capacity to impact on social relations. For example, the Apartheid policies that entrenched migrant labour resulted in the breakdown of rural families. In the welfare states of Europe, various policies to support mothers of young children had different social effects. Thus, in some countries, free child care facilities allowed women to leave the home and work while in other countries, grants for mothers encouraged women to stay at home. (B Hobson (1994) ‘Solo mothers, social policy regimes and the logics of gender’ in D Sainsbury (ed) Gendering Welfare States Sage: London, 170-187). Therefore, existing and new forms of social protection must take account of the gender realities of our society.

Any efforts towards development should address women’s practical gender needs but should also attempt to challenge the underlying causes of gender inequality such as the sexual division of labour. (C Moser, (1993) Gender Planning and Development: Theory, practice and training). For example, the provision of child care facilities near to the workplace of fathers may assist women by freeing them of some child care and may encourage men to take responsibility for getting children to these facilities. In terms of social assistance, a grant provided to parents of small children, for the use by the parent to seek work or start a small enterprise may improve the economic opportunities of young women and increase their social status.

Recommendation: The need for gender equality must inform detailed planning of a comprehensive social protection package. Women’s practical and strategic gender needs must be addressed.

Child Care and the Child Support Grant

Most children are cared for by women, whether mothers or other female relatives. This is an unrecognised and unremunerated contribution towards the economy and the society. (M Waring (1998) If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics) It allows men to engage in paid work unencumbered by responsibility for children. It also removes the state’s obligation to care for children. Unemployed women are not seen as needing child care yet looking after children prevents them from looking for work and hampers their ability to engage in basic subsistence activities. It is not only children, but the elderly, sick and disabled that are also cared for generally by women.

Recommendation: Free child care should be provided to all who need it. Primary care givers of children, the sick, elderly and disabled should be assisted in order to enable them to seek work, engage in income generating activities and other household labour. They should be remunerated for their caring work.

The state Child Support Grant (CSG) is provided to the primary care giver of the child to support the child. R160 per month can do little other than feed a child a basic diet and even this is questionable. It is not enough to provide clothing, shelter, costs of schooling or other basics. It is certainly not enough to feed the mother of the child, let alone enable her to pay for child care so that she can seek work or engage in income generating activity.

The problems of access to the CSG are numerous. They include:

Illiteracy and lack of information about the grant.(Sunday Times, 20 October 2002)
Inability to access birth certificates and other documentation from the Department of Home Affairs. (Sunday Times, 3 November 2002) Even paying for photographs for an identity book can prove to be an insurmountable obstacle for a poor mother;
Lack of transport or money for transport to access the offices dealing with the grant. (Sunday Times, 3 November 2002) For many rural people, the nearest small town is a R36 return taxi fare away;
Poorly trained, inefficient, corrupt and unhelpful welfare officials. (The Star, 10 July 2002 and 12 July 2002) There are allegations of sexual harassment by state officials including demands for sex in exchange for processing of grants.(evidence collected by the Alliance for Children’s Entitlement to Social Security (ACESS)) There are also claims that officials discriminate on the basis of ethnicity in refusing to help certain people access grants; (The Star, 25 April 2003);
Delays in processing of the CSG. (Sogaula et al (2002) Social security transfers, poverty and chronic illness in the Eastern Cape)
The means test is a serious obstacle to processing of grants and serves to exclude many of the desperately poor. As noted in the Taylor Report, means testing encourages misreporting of income by grant applicants and may even incite them to avoid earning cash income for fear of being deemed too ‘wealthy’ to qualify for social assistance. In the case of the CSG, furthermore, the existing means test is characterised by an unusual two-tier structure that distinguishes between the income of grant applicants based on whether they reside in a rural or urban area (or in an ‘informal dwelling’). This unique feature of the CSG means test has recently been criticised by the South African Human Rights Commission for its arbitrariness (South African Human Rights Commission (2003), 4^th Annual Economic and Social Rights Report: 2000-2002.)

The problems facing claimants of the CSG are encountered primarily by women, usually the mothers of the children. These problems are also shaped or exacerbated by the fact that the claimants are women. Thus, women are more exposed to sexual harassment, fear of violence on the way to government offices, ignorance of their rights etc.

There is a worrying trend of accusing mothers who claim the CSG of becoming pregnant to obtain the grant, missing school to collect the grant and abusing the grant. (B Goldblatt, ‘Teen pregnancy and abuse of the child support grant? Addressing the myths and stereotypes’ in Agenda, forthcoming). Certain practical steps might address this situation such as Saturday collection days, greater encouragement to people to use alternative methods of collection of the grant such as post offices and banks, etc). More importantly however, the stereotypes and negative attitudes towards the young mothers and the grant itself need to be addressed in any comprehensive overhaul of the current social security system. The public needs to be educated on the important role that women play in caring for children and the need to provide state support for them and their children.

Recommendations:
-The Child Support Grant must be extended to all children under 18.
-The amount of the CSG must be increased.
-The means test must be scrapped.
-The identification requirements must be relaxed.
-The delivery mechanisms must be improved.
-Women must be provided with safe access to grants free from harassment and fear.
-Primary Care Givers who are in school must be able to collect grants on Saturdays or after school hours.
-Grant recipients should be educated on their right to send other people to collect grants on their behalf and to use alternative methods of collection such as banks, post offices etc where these are available. Free banking must be negotiated for all grant recipients. New and more cost effective collection systems must be developed, especially for the rural poor.

A Basic Income Grant (BIG)
The Taylor report’s recommendation for a BIG is correctly premised on the fact that millions of adults below pensionable age are suffering crippling poverty without sufficient state support. There are also many people who, although eligible for social assistance, are unable to obtain various grants because of the numerous obstacles.

There is a strong argument for a BIG from the perspective of poor women in our country. Additional social assistance is critical in addressing the needs of women who predominate among the poor (as discussed in 2. above). Poverty alleviation mechanisms such as the BIG, even if small, will make a tangible difference to these women’s conditions.

The Taylor report says that a BIG would be used to pool income and that this could contribute to the empowerment of women and younger people in the family. (page 61) The assumption that householders will pool income and use it collectively in the best interests of all householders must be carefully researched. In the development literature, women are considered to be more responsible than men in using income collectively and developmentally. It is possible that women grant holders might be unwilling to pool their grants if they fear that men will take control of the money and misuse it. If this is so, women headed households are likely to benefit most from a BIG. Thus, there may be certain social and developmental consequences of a BIG that could prove positive or negative in the struggle to address gender inequality in our society. These issues need to be considered when looking at the form of a BIG and its implementation. We suggest that government will need to develop mechanisms to educate grant recipients about the equal and effective use of a BIG.

Recommendation:
A Basic Income Grant is supported. The grant needs to be accompanied by strategies to empower women householders to use the money collectively and to encourage men to make joint decisions with women regarding the best interests of the household.

Conclusion

Government (as well as the private sector and the society as a whole) needs to do much more to address poverty in our country. As the Taylor Report observes, poverty alleviation needs to be seen as a package of services, infrastructure, and opportunities for development of the economy. Any comprehensive effort in this regard needs to take account of the existence of inequality in our society so that these attempts not only target poverty but also some of the deep inequalities that pervade our society. Serious attention must be given to gender inequality and the particular concerns of women as beneficiaries of comprehensive social protection.

The achievement of equality is one of the founding values of our Constitution. The right to equality is inextricably linked to the other rights in the Bill of Rights including the right to social security. Any new social policy needs to take account of gender inequalities and respond to them meaningfully if it is to have a positive social effect and fulfill the mandate of the Constitution.