The Women's Parliament was established to ensure women from different levels of society were able to participate in the political development of the country, according to the Speaker of the South African National Assembly, Baleka Mbete.

Addressing the 2008 Women's Parliament on Monday, Ms Mbete said previously women tended to be marginalised from political development because they were so "busy being the backbone of families" and that they tended to leave the politics to men.

However, the Women's Parliament had enriched the processes in Parliament which affect the lives of many South Africans.

"It certainly has been a success and has literally helped us know so many South Africans. It has given South Africans a chance to interact directly with us. And we are very grateful as we have learnt a lot.

"It has kept us in touch with those on the ground, the women we usually read about in books and newspapers and has made us better representatives."

As the Women's Parliament sat for the 4th since its inception in 2005, Ms Mbete said that as the current government was ending its term, she was not sure whether there would be another such Parliament.

She said the Women's Parliament was established because "we were not convinced we were reaching out to the ordinary South Africans."

It became clear that those who had access to Parliament were the elite, had money; they were educated and kept track of the events of the country. They were the ones who were coming to give their submissions and it was their views that were being taken into account, she said.

She said they had visited women at district level to encourage them to be apart of the Women's Parliament; it was taken to the districts "so that it is not just people in leadership and at a provincial level that end up at Women's Parliament".

Chief Whip of the National Council of Province Nosipho Dorothy Ntwanambi said it was important to empower women so they could intervene on all aspects of lives as equals.

She said that in 2007 the global representation of women in Parliaments across the globe was 18 percent. "Although it has increased it is still minimal."

South Africa had, however, made great strides since 1994 when there were only 2.8 percent of women sworn into Parliament.

In 1994 that figure shot up to 29 percent, and the next election it went up to 29.8 percent and at the last elections in 2004 it increase to 33.9 percent.

The advancement of women in political and decision making positions had shown substantive progress since 1994.

"But still much work needed to be done, particularly with the current imbalances of women in parliament continentally and worldwide," said Ms Ntwanambi.

She said that it was not only numbers that were important but the quality of representatives was essential and training and education from a young age to intellectually equip women was important.

"More women's voices needed to be heard and included in reform," said Ms Ntwanambi.