Date: 11/08/2010
Source: The Independent Democrats
Title: ID: Mcgluwa: Speech by ID Member of Parliament, on the Women's Day debate, National Assembly, Cape Town

Speaker, on Monday 9 August I participated in three Women's Day events, where I joined Government officials, NGOs and ordinary women in George, Mitchell's Plain and Somerset West, to celebrate Women's Day.

The more I sat there listening, the more I began to hear clearly some of the massive challenges women face in a male-dominated society.

If women are struggling like this today, imagine what it took for 20 000 women to face the might of the Apartheid regime and march defiantly to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 9 August 1956.

I also began to share the view of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela that we do not just need large numbers of women; we need quality women that can improve the quality of life for all other women.

I also realized that Women's Day is as much about men as it is about women because if men truly respected women as equals and worked with them to create equality in all spheres of our society, then there would be no need for Women's Month.

Patricia de Lille and thousands of other women's contribution towards the struggle against Apartheid was no less significant than the contribution of her male counterparts.

In fact, they contributed more, because after a day in the trenches many of them still went home and fed and clothed their families!

It is for this reason that all of us must embrace the continuing struggle for equality.

I thank you.