CGE ANNUAL REPORT

2022/23 ANNUAL REPORT

4.

Chief Executive Officer’s Overview

I am pleased to present the Commission for Gender Equality’s annual report for the 2022/2023 financial year. The Commission has an important role to play in the realisation of gender equality in South Africa, and this means an effective secretariat is needed to help the Commission achieve this goal. The year under review presented the organisation with administrative leadership changes that we are delighted to have overcome with determination and commitment to our annual performance plan. My office is the organisational centre upon which the expectations of a systemised and efficient administrative operation rely. Our highest aim was to ensure that we reach our quarterly performance targets, which are important building blocks in helping us achieve our annual targets, which were set within the frameworks of our four strategic outcomes. We implemented initiatives within the framework of these strategic outcomes and have built solid stakeholder relationships with

Dr Dennis Matotoka Acting Chief Executive Officer

like-minded institutions who will be instrumental in helping us move towards realising our vision. Through our legal department, which has been capacitated with new human resources, we have made several legislative submissions to Parliament, wherein we made sound proposals on amendments to certain parts of the law to ensure gender transformation. We are perfectly positioned to do this, because of our mandate to carry out legal hearings, systemic investigations and legal interventions in constitutional court cases that have a bearing on the body of gender-related laws in South Africa. During the implementation of our performance programmes, we successfully built knowledge that will help us gain a better understanding of the complex issues that affect our society, such as the systemised patriarchy, harmful traditional stereotypes and practices, economic inequality, gender-based violence and femicide, structural exclusion of women and girls and many other societal issues that undermine the attainment of gender equality. Through our research department, we worked on five important research projects on topics that include ‘Gender-Responsive Planning and Budgeting’, ‘Government’s Implementation of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide’, and the ‘Policy Interplay on Teenage Pregnancy’. One of our strategic objectives is to ensure that we promote gender equality through education and information to foster public understanding. During the year, our provincial offices, the Public Education department and the media and communications department continued to reach out to the public using various platforms to drive our key messages.

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