Submission on the Attorneys Amendment Bill Made by the Commission for Gender Equality

SUBMISSION ON THE ATTORNEYS AMENDMENT BILL MADE BY THE COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITY TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONAL SERVICES

18 August 2014

Commission of Gender Equality

132 Adderley Street, 5th Floor, ABSA Building, Cape Town, 8001

Tel: 021 426 4080 Fax 021 424 0549

SUBMISSION ON THE ATTORNEYS AMENDMENT BILL MADE BY THE COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITY TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE AN CORRECTIONAL SERVICES

The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) is a state institution and in terms of section 187 of the Constitution is tasked with the promotion, protection, development and attainment of gender equality.

Section 11 of the Commission of Gender Equality Act makes provision for the powers and functions of the CGE. The CGE’s mandate includes the authority to evaluate any Act of parliament or proposed Act of parliament.Furthermore the CGE is mandated to evaluateand monitor policies and practices of organs of state at any level, public bodies and private businesses.

COMMENTS BY THE COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITY

Gender inequality is not alien to the legal profession. Sexist attitudes and poor female representation within the legal profession has been a concern for several years. There is an increasing need for the legal profession to be more representative of the broader population, particularly the previously disadvantaged and women.This requires active measures being taken to remove systematic barriers to upward mobility. One such measure includes the unification of rules governing the legal profession. The rules governing the former Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei regions are not concurrent with the rules governing the legal profession in the rest of the country. Furthermore candidate attorneys undergoing training in these areas are disadvantaged by the absence of practical legal training courses due to the operation of Attorneys, Notaries and Conveyancers AdmissionAct 23 of 1934. These territories and the separate homeland legislation that governs the legal profession within them are a relic of apartheid and continue to perpetuate inequality and spatial segregation. It is therefore of utmost importance that residents of these areas are afforded the same protection, education and disciplinary procedures as South Africans is the rest of the country.

The CGE supports the Attorney’s Amendment bill as an interim measure pending the finalization of the Legal Practice Bill. The CGE further encourages theprofession as a wholeto provide more support to female graduates and not to serve as a barrier for female law graduates. There are high numbers of females graduating their law degree and much less obtaining candidate attorney positions as appose to their male counterparts. Slow gender representation on the bench continues to call for concern. Gender Inequalities within the legal profession must be addressed tirelessly.

The CGE thanks the Portfolio Committee on Justices and Correctional Services for the opportunity to comment on the above mentioned Amendment Act.

Parliamentary office

Cape Town

August 2014