South Africa should have at least 50 percent representation of women in political and leadership roles, Minister in the Presidency Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Saturday

"We are in the phase of preparing ourselves for elections in 2009. What is it that we could do differently this time to ensure that we are on track towards gender parity and the 50/50 representation of women in political positions?" said Tshabalala-Msimang at a National Gender Machinery meeting in Pretoria.

The aim of the two-day meeting, attended by government officials and non-governmental organisations, was to strategise on how 50 percent representation of women in governance can be achieved.

Msimang said processes had been put in place to develop a paper on the establishment of a women's ministry.

Currently though, funding and limited human resources were problems in taking the idea further.

The meeting, expected to end on Sunday, plans to draw up a position paper for SA which puts forward a plan of action and time frames for achieving gender parity.

The paper is then expected to be presented at a Southern African Development Community meeting on Monday.