It was important on Women's Day to look beyond the symbolism of the public holiday and address the root causes of women's oppression, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille said on Sunday.

Writing in a special edition of her online weekly newsletter, she said the issue was not to get more female executives in corporate management and top government positions, but the "big and obvious" problems confronting ordinary South African women.

Of these problems, male sexuality was the greatest.

"It's time to face reality on these issues and not be cowed by male politicians who do not want to hear about rape rates or the disastrously high number of children who do not know their fathers," she said.

"We've had enough of the mantra of women's liberation. We now want the reality."

She said the government should investigate the possibility of enforcing maintenance payments by blacklisting men in arrears.

It could create incentives for women to further their education, rather than become teenage mothers.

One idea to promote this outcome would be to award an educational grant of, say, R25 000 to women turning 21 who had a matric certificate and had never applied for a child grant.

The government should also consider charges of statutory rape against any adult man who had sex with an under-aged girl, regardless of whether it was "consensual" or not, said Zille.

This could help resurrect the necessary social taboo against such behaviour.