The South African Institute of Tax Practitioners (SAIT) shed off the corporate colours for the week leading up to Women's Day to flaunt their new pink look in support of all the women of the country. Marketing manager for SAIT, Yanic Smit, has emphasised that this is more than a temporary make-over, "We must expand the focus directed towards women this week, and use this attention to confront the deep-rooted, gender-based violence and discrimination head on."
A recent PwC report shows that women only occupy 10% of executive director posts in South Africa as of April 2013. "While government must be commended for their recently proposed Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill which seeks to address gender-based discrimination in the workplace, it is the responsibility of every South African to treat their mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives with the respect they deserve," remarks Ronel de Kock, head of education at SAIT.
According to Smit, gender-based violence is of particular importance to SAIT, "The horrific truth is that South Africa suffers one of the highest incidences of rape of any country.
"One of our projects for Women's Day this year saw us partner with the Jes Foord Foundation's Handbag project. Through our network we enlisted the support of the tax industry in an effort to collect 1000 filled handbags which are filled with a list of essentials to help women after they report the crime at the police station and are feeling at their most vulnerable."
"The response so far has been overwhelming", says Smit, "We are very proud of the way the companies which we work so closely with have added their tremendous support and we are set to easily exceed the target. As a representative of the tax community, SAIT is looking forward to drawing attention to this important cause."
