“It is not in the talking that we achieve the things we want in life, but it is when we fold up our sleeves and pull ourselves up and get things done.”

This was the message of Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe when she addressed a summit marking the 2020 International Women’s Day, in Johannesburg, on Friday.

As the world marks International Women’s Day on March 8, the Motsepe Foundation’s Women’s Unit gathered under the theme ‘Women leadership: Power to influence’.

"We can wish for things but if we do not stand up and do things ourselves then we have only ourselves to blame,” Moloi-Motsepe said.

Addressing a large contingent of women, she called on husbands and sons to walk alongside women and recognise women’s equal rights to political opportunity, as well as economic opportunity and health and education.

“We should be saying gender equality is important, it really matters.”

The event was attended by women in various leadership positions and included the Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, as well as Congress of South African Trade Unions president Zingiswa Losi.

She said globally the business case for gender equality had been made.

"It is a moral imperative but it also good for business. A lot of companies and countries that practice gender equality are not only competitive, they are very productive, their employees and their citizens are very happy and  they pay well,” she said.

She pointed out that Rwanda ranked number four among the top ten countries that practice gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum.

"South Africa is going to get there. We have the right leadership to do that, right intelligence, infrastructure and the right leaders to make gender equality a reality. It is totally unacceptable that it is going to take us 135 years to reach gender equality,” she stated.