Next week Friday, August 9, South Africans will celebrate and commemorate the struggle of women for a gender-based violence-free, non-racial and non-sexist country under the theme: “25 Years of Democracy: Growing South Africa for Women’s Emancipation,”
Women’s Day marks the 63rd anniversary of the 1956 march by women of all races to the Union Buildings in protest against the oppressive apartheid laws.
Public Service and Administration Deputy Minister, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga, said as the nation gears up to celebrate Women’s Day, it is important to note that South Africa has made great strides in advancing the rights of women, “although the total struggle for total women emancipation is still far from over”.
She said as the nation commemorates women’s month, it should be in the context of the first women’s march to Pretoria in 1956 because, during that time, the state relegated the status of women not to be able to occupy some positions in certain sectors of society.
“For instance, in the Department of Transport, there were positions specifically reserved for men and women were not even allowed to pursue careers in sectors such as engineering.
“Even in the education sector, women were mostly employed as teachers, assistant teachers, but not as principals, school inspectors or Head of Departments.
“Are we there yet, definitely not, there is still a long way to go before we can proudly say we live in a country that is non-sexist and do not look at people on the basis of gender,” she said.
Deputy Minister Chikunga said, however, the good news is that today in South Africa, women can occupy any position in all sectors of the society. “In the public service, for instance, there is a 50/50 parity policy that says women must occupy 50 percent of Senior Management positions to level the playing field.
“In the aviation sector and maritime, we have women pursuing careers as pilots and we have women who are actually getting into those positions that were reserved for men,” she said.
The Deputy Minister said the planned Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Council announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address (SoNA), would play a central role in eradicating the scourge of gender-based violence.
“This important council announced by the President will help us as a nation to search for the best ways of ensuring that vulnerable women and young girls in the rural areas are safe and protected from all forms gender-based violence and are liberated from economic marginalization,” she said.
The Deputy Minister who will lead her own Departmental Women’s Day celebrations later this month, said as long as women and young girls are still raped and killed by people they trust, the struggle for gender-based violence should be intensified.
