NATIONAL NEWS - Gender equality starts at home when men start taking responsibility by supporting and maintaining their own children. 

This is the key message emphasised by Social Development Deputy Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu in her remarks on the occasion of the inaugural national Men's Parliament in Parliament, Cape Town on Monday 19 November.

"It has become fashionable for men to outsource their responsibility to care and support their own children to the government by simply registering their children for social grants. The government can only do so much to support vulnerable children, but cannot replace or fill fathers' responsibilities towards their own children."

"The phenomenon of absent and ATM-fathers has unfortunately become a rule rather than an exception in our society." 

She called on the Men's Parliament to confront gender stereotypes and to reinforce messages that encourage fathers to take active roles in their own children's lives.

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