The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

In commemoration of the International Day of Rural Women tomorrow, 15October
2009, African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) pays tribute
to the tireless efforts of rural women in South Africa and across the
African continent for their contribution to the rural economy and rural
development.

The ANCWL considers empowering and improving the lives of rural women a
central pillar in the war against unemployment, poverty, inequality and
marginalisation.

While considering that over the past fifteen years our nation has made
formidable progress in advancing the condition and needs of women in certain
areas, the ANCWL is concerned about the conditions of rural women in our
country.

Rural women remain mostly disadvantaged. They still suffer from the absence
of timely and adequate medical care and lack of access to information to
improve their health and well-being. They remain vulnerable to poverty and
unemployment.

The participation of rural women in the formal or mainstream economy is
still acutely inadequate. While women work the land, they often do not hold
formal and clear land title ownership. A lack of rights over land makes
women extremely vulnerable to eviction and loss of income during the death
of their husbands.

The ANCWL is concerned that despite a wide range of legalisation to protect
women from violence and gender discrimination, rural women, particularly
girls are still largely exposed to cultural marginilisation and
discrimination, sexual violence, forced marriages and prostitution.

The conditions of rural women underline the need for an effective rural
development programmes that prioritise rural women by ensuring that they
benefit from investment in economic development, infrastructure, and access
to government services, as well as training and education.

While women represent a significant proportion of the farm labour force and
subsistence food producers they have been the last to benefit from economic
and development transformation.

The legacy of apartheid has a legacy of lack of access to basic services
such as water, energy and sanitation, and being without capacity to access
to developmental opportunities. In rural areas there is a severe shortage of
hospitals and medical care facilities especially for women. There is also a
severe shortage of proper infrastructure such as roads, transportation and
electricity. The lack of these basic services increases the burden of labour
for rural women.

Thus on this day, the ANCWL reaffirms its commitment to remain in the
forefront of the struggle to address and improve the conditions of rural
women in our country. For as long as rural women have no access to adequate
healthcare, die from curable, manageable and preventable diseases such as
breast cancer, TB, malaria, HIV and AIDS, and suffer from lack of education,
discrimination in property and land ownership, sexual abuse, cultural
marginalisation and discrimination, the struggle for women emancipation in
our country remains incomplete.

The ANCWL remains steadfastly committed to a comprehensive rural development
strategy linked to agrarian reform, which builds the potential for rural
sustainable livelihoods, particularly for African women.

The International Day of Rural Women was established by the General Assembly
of the United Nations to pay tribute and recognise the critical role and
contribution of rural women in eradicating rural poverty through food
production and food security.

The International Day of Rural Women also directs our attention to both the
contribution that women make in rural areas and the many challenges that
they still face in our country.

We call on government, particularly the provincial and local sphere of
government to ensure that economic development and social advancement in the
rural areas goes beyond land and agrarian reform and that it includes
strategies to develop appropriate industries including light manufacturing,
handicrafts, services, tourism, telecommunications services, roads and rail.

We will continue to engage government to ensure that social security
programmes and land reform initiatives prioritise rural women.

Working together we can do more to fight rural poverty and ensure that rural
women enjoy a better life.

Malibongwe! Igama lamakhosikazi!