Sights Through the Hourglass: A Critical Review of the Progress of Women in Africa

This summary report details an Institute for Security Studies (ISS) seminar held in Pretoria on 12 August 2009, titled "Sights Through the Hourglass: A Critical Review of the Progress of Women in Africa." The event brought together academics and practitioners to discuss the implementation of gender equity in South Africa and across the African continent, specifically focusing on security sector governance, peace-building, and the impact of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.

• Despite progress in legal instruments and the recognition of gender equality, women remain the primary face of underdevelopment and poverty, and violence against women has increased. There is a continuing struggle to achieve 50% representation for women in decision-making roles.
• South Africa has established the necessary institutional architecture for gender equality, including the Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disability, and ranks 3rd globally for the number of women in parliament. However, the security sector remains heavily influenced by stereotypes, making the transformation of dominant culture more difficult than achieving representative numbers.
• The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is guided by the 1996 South African White Paper on Defence, which identifies racial and gender representativeness as fundamental to the institution's legitimacy. Effective operationalisation of these policies requires consensus building to ensure gender equity is not viewed as a "zero sum game" where men lose and women win.
• Regarding peace-building, a significant challenge is integrating the informal peace-building roles of women into formal processes. There is a noted connection between the failure to acknowledge the impact of war on women and a continuing culture of impunity.
• The implementation of gender frameworks is critically shaped by the allocation of resources; a lack of resources may potentially reverse the gains made over the previous decade.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (2009). Sights Through the Hourglass: A Critical Review of the Progress of Women in Africa. https://issafrica.org/topics/peacekeeping-and-conflict-management/12-aug-2009-iss-seminar-pretoria-sights-through-the-hourglass-a-critical-review-of-the-progress-of-women-in-africa/12-aug-2009-summary-report-iss-seminar-pretoria-sights-through-the-hourglass-a-critical-review-o

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. Sights Through the Hourglass: A Critical Review of the Progress of Women in Africa. 2009. https://issafrica.org/topics/peacekeeping-and-conflict-management/12-aug-2009-iss-seminar-pretoria-sights-through-the-hourglass-a-critical-review-of-the-progress-of-women-in-africa/12-aug-2009-summary-report-iss-seminar-pretoria-sights-through-the-hourglass-a-critical-review-o.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=Sights Through the Hourglass: A Critical Review of the Progress of Women in Africa |date=12 August 2009 |url=https://issafrica.org/topics/peacekeeping-and-conflict-management/12-aug-2009-iss-seminar-pretoria-sights-through-the-hourglass-a-critical-review-of-the-progress-of-women-in-africa/12-aug-2009-summary-report-iss-seminar-pretoria-sights-through-the-hourglass-a-critical-review-o |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudies2009sights, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{Sights Through the Hourglass: A Critical Review of the Progress of Women in Africa}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2009}, month = aug, url = {https://issafrica.org/topics/peacekeeping-and-conflict-management/12-aug-2009-iss-seminar-pretoria-sights-through-the-hourglass-a-critical-review-of-the-progress-of-women-in-africa/12-aug-2009-summary-report-iss-seminar-pretoria-sights-through-the-hourglass-a-critical-review-o}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }