The Commission on Gender Equality is one of six state institutions set up in terms of the Constitution to promote democracy and a culture of human rights in the country. Its role is to advance gender equality in all spheres of society and make recommendations on any legislation affecting the status of women. The Commission aims to transform society by "exposing gender discrimination in laws, policies and practices; advocating changes in sexist attitudes and gender stereotypes; and instilling respect for women’s rights as human rights". Although the institution acts in the interests of women generally, it pays particular attention to women.

The Commission’s functions are to:

• Monitor all organs of society to ensure that gender equality is safeguarded and promoted.
• Assess all legislation from a gender perspective.
• Commission research and make recommendations to Parliament and other authorities.
• Educate and inform the public.
• Investigate complaints on gender-related issues.
• Monitor South Africa’s progress towards gender equality in relation to international norms.

The strategic plan has been crafted in the context of international, continental and national developments pertaining to gender equity. These developments have a direct bearing on the critical issues which the CGE needs to strategically focus in the next 3 years.

The Division for the Advancement of Women, under the auspices of the United Nations held an expert meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, from 8-11 November 2005 under the theme "Enhancing Participation of Women in Development through an Enabling Environment for Achieving Gender Equality and the Advancement of Women". The meeting reviewed the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the documents of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, submitted to the 49^th session of the Commission in 2005. It is the Beijing Conference that set the tone for all the major gender equality initiatives world-wide. The conference noted that "the status and role of women has undergone a significant change over the past ten years, although not at an equal pace in all regions. Achievements noted included increased awareness, policy reforms, improved legislative frameworks, and institutional development at the national level in many countries. Positive developments include the establishment of national policies and strategies for gender equality; adherence to international and regional instruments for the protection of the human rights of women; increased diversity in the mechanisms promoting and monitoring attention to gender equality; attention to resource allocations through gender-sensitive budgeting; the recognition of the critical role played by NGO’s in awareness-raising, advocacy, monitoring and programme delivery; and efforts to engage men and boys more actively in the promotion of gender equality".

The afore-going paragraph is a clear depiction of the agenda of the CGE in the country, a further endorsement of its relevance to the nation. The conference also noted that ten years after the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action by the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, "a large gap remains between policy and practice. Discriminatory practices and public attitudes towards the advancement of women and gender equality have not changed at the same pace as policy, legal and institutional frameworks……The challenges of implementing the international commitments on gender equality and empowerment of women in the Beijing Platform for Action, the Millennium Declaration and more recently, the Outcome of the 2005 World Summit highlight the importance of ensuring an enabling environment. An enabling environment may be interpreted as a set of interrelated and interdependent systemic conditions such as policies, laws, institutional mechanisms, resources, etc., which facilitate the promotion of gender equality". Such an environment is the one which the CGE earnestly advocates for through the pursuance of legislation and policies that adequately address the interests of women.

Related to such international developments, the African Union Leaders made a solemn declaration on gender equality in Africa at the Third Ordinary Session of their Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 6-8 July 2004. They pledged among other issues, that they were:

" Standing by their Decision on gender parity taken at the Inaugural Session of  the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2002 in Durban, South Africa implemented during the Second Ordinary  Session of the Assembly in Maputo, Mozambique, 2003 through the election of five female and five male Commissioners; Noting with satisfaction that our Decision on gender parity is a historic achievement that does not yet exist in any other continent or regional organizations; Re-affirming our commitment to continue, expand and accelerate efforts to promote gender equality at all levels; Determined to build on the progress that we have achieved in addressing issues of major concern to the women of Africa; Recognizing that major challenges and obstacles to gender equality still remain and require concerted and collective leadership and efforts from all of us including networks working on gender and development; Deeply concerned about the status of women and the negative impacts on women of issues such the high incidence of HIV/AIDS among girls and women, conflict, poverty, harmful traditional practices, high population of refugee women and internally displaced women, violence against women, women’s exclusion from politics and decision-making, and illiteracy, limited access of girls to education; Aware of the policies and programmes we have put in place to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS pandemic as well as the current challenges in this campaign; Concerned that, while women and children bear the brunt of conflicts and internal displacement, including rapes and killings, they are largely excluded from conflict prevention, peace-negotiation, and peace-building processes in spite of African women’s experience in peace-building; Aware of the fact that low levels of women’s representation in social, economic and political decision-making structures and feminisation of poverty impact negatively on women’s ability to derive full benefit from the economies of their countries and the democratization process".

In line with international trends, South Africa established a set of co-ordinated structures, within and outside of government, which aim to achieve equality for women in all spheres of life. This national machinery in South Africa was established after the 1995 World Conference on Women, held in Beijing.

South Africa took the challenge of the Beijing Platform for Action, and established a National Machinery whose aim is to integrate gender into all government policy, planning and activities. As such, the National Machinery was in line with the goals of the Reconstruction and Development Programme, namely the transformation of all institutions, processes and priorities of government.

The South African gender machinery has become a model for the African continent. It is composed of three supporting pillars:

1. A parliamentary structure of the Women’s Caucus and the Parliamentary Committee on the Quality of Life and Status of Women.
2. The Office of the Status of Women, based in the Office of the Presidency and working closely with the gender desks in line ministries.
3. The Commission for Gender Equality, an independent advisory, consultative and research body, which is directly accountable to parliament.

At Presidium level in South Africa commitment has been laid down in line with regional and international developments pertaining to gender equality. When addressing participants on the Occasion of the National Women's Day Celebrations in Groblersdal, Limpopo 9th August 2005 President Thabo Mbeki critically highlighted that " It is important that we do not just talk about women empowerment because it is fashionable to do so. We must continuously measure the progress we are making in this regard so that we can determine what we should do next to improve on our performance. Accordingly, it will be necessary to make an audit of this progress in both the public and private sectors….This emancipation must mean that we make the necessary progress to arm women with education, with skills and information so that they can participate meaningfully in the economic and social development opportunities that are available in our country".

The President continued to emphasize that "… we have a duty to work with employers and trade unions so as to bring to an end the continuing sexual abuse of working women at the work place as well as those seeking employment. Undoubtedly, women will never be fully emancipated if their human rights are violated. ….To celebrate Women's Month I will like to urge that government at different levels as well as the private sector should ensure that they have the necessary mechanisms that will help all of us to accelerate the process of empowering women. This is critical if we are not to confine dealing with the important matters facing women only during the 9th of August".

This speech bears relevance to the strategic focus of the CGE as it calls for a reflection of the gains made in the advancement of gender equality in all the spheres of South Africa. An enabling environment would thus influence the capacity of women to be involved, participate actively and benefit from development processes in a sustained and effective manner. It would also contribute to the elimination of women’s discrimination and exclusion, increase their access to decision-making, their control over resources such as land and economic assets, and fully recognize their contributions as actors in the economy and other areas of public life.

In developing this strategic plan, we have adopted an approach used by a number of organisations in both the private and public sectors. The ‘Balanced Scorecard’ translates our strategic goals into objectives and targets using a balanced set of perspectives. It seeks to achieve a balance between these perspectives, which we have identified as the drivers of our future performance.

They are:

• Stakeholders

• Finance and Resources

• Processes

• Learning and Growth

A balanced scorecard has been developed to reflect the Commission’s strategic objectives using these perspectives. The strategic objectives derived from the scorecard and the measures of success/targets which will enable the Commission to evaluate the achievement of its objectives are also included. Using these we will produce an annual operational plan, derived from the corporate scorecard, to guide our activities each year. Each Department within the organisation will also develop its own balanced scorecard relating to these strategic objectives, on an annual basis.

The CGE’s mandate is directed by Section 187, Chapter 9 of the Constitution of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996 and the powers and functions of the CGE are detailed in the Commission on Gender Equality Act 39 of 1996. Below are the mandatory obligations the Commission is expected to fulfil:

The mandate provides the framework within which the vision will be carved.

The "vision" declares CGE’s aspirations, and identifies what it is striving to become in the years ahead.

CGE, therefore envisions, within South Africa,

The critical success factors for this excellence will be an environment where there are effective partnerships with our stakeholders, being innovative, accountable and responsive, valuing our employees and being proactive to ever evolving changes locally and internationally.

A mission statement translates the vision into the direction and purpose of the CGE with the following fundamentals:

1. Help CGE to focus its strategy by defining some boundaries within which to operate.
2. Define the dimensions along which the CGE’s performance is to be measured and judged.
3. Suggest standards for individual operational behaviour i.e. efficiency and effectiveness.

The Mission Statement reads thus:

We intend to achieve our mission through a range of inter-linking priorities which will need our attention through the period of this plan. We will focus our energies and resources on:

• campaigning for increased legislative protection against discrimination and for positive action to address inequalities

• leading the debate on an inclusive equality agenda for South Africa

• influencing and monitoring the effectiveness of mainstreaming equality throughout public policy and service delivery

• challenging unlawful discrimination by focusing our resources strategically where they will have greatest benefit

• running an efficient and effective organisation

• providing high quality advice and information to all our stakeholders

• raising awareness of the benefits of equality of opportunity

• raising awareness of the extent of inequality and its impact on economic, social and political life.

As an organisation we wish to undertake our business on the basis of the following values which all staff and Commissioners will strive to uphold.

The following are factors that will be critical to the success of the CGE in light of the strategic plan, in the sense that if the objectives associated with those factors are not achieved, the plan will struggle.

• The CEO will coordinate and communicate the vital interrelationships that exist between and among business units thereby promoting institutional effectiveness 
• Coordinate and support a systematic programme of assessment and evaluation, report the findings to all units, and ensure the incorporation of those findings into the institutional planning, transformation and continuous improvement processes of the CGE.
• The CGE will generate, maintain and disseminate the most accurate and current institutional information possible to support the continuous planning and assessment of the organisation.
• CGE will encourage and support the professional development of staff and empower them to provide the most effective services possible
• CGE will acquire and manage adequate and appropriate resources to fulfil the charges and responsibilities of the commission

It is evident from the strategic framework presented here that the action plan to enhance participation and quality delivery requires concerted efforts to ensure the following: