Pretoria — Minister of Public Service and Administration Lindiwe Sisulu says that while the Legislature has done a lot in terms of passing laws that protect women, until the laws they had enacted were enforced, they would remain ink and paper.

Speaking on Friday during her department's Women's Day celebration in Johannesburg, Sisulu called on law enforcement agencies, civil society, women professional groups and other progressive organisations to come to the party.

She said the department had the responsibility of not only ensuring that government followed up on its commitment to establish gender focal points in every department to promote gender equality, but it also had a constitutional mandate to ensure that the public service was diversified at all its levels and categories.

"The Employment Equity Act and Skills Development Act are the vehicles to be utilised to ensure that there is true empowerment of women through skills development and affirmative placement into positions of authority," said the minister.

"We must intensify our efforts in driving gender mainstreaming and also incorporate the "take the girl child to work" programme for experiential exposure and training, our initiatives must be practical. We should also encourage women to fight against prejudice and deep-rooted sexism in society that is meant to block their voice from echoing in the upper echelons of government and big business."