Issued by Gauteng Provincial Government
7 August 2000
Comrade Chairperson
Distinguished guests
Comrades and friends
I bring you warm greetings from the Gauteng Provincial Government. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all of you for bruising this cold evening to commemorate and celebrate the heroic role played by women in the national liberation struggle.
In today's issue of The Citizen newspaper there is an advert placed by a company called Eagle Corner, which reads:
"We are open on National Women's Day! Basil, you forgot about national women's day! No honey, I was going to surprise you. Would you come with me to Eagle Corner? They've got a great deal on bakkies today!! Basil is just the sweetest! This really was a great surprise. I love my Etude! Thanks snooks."
I hope that this is not how Eagle Corner sees National Women's Day - a day of shopping. I also hope that this is not how the company views South African women - just consumers of goods. Unlike Eagle Corner or those who created the advert, the Gauteng Provincial Government regards National Women's Day as one of the most important day in our calendar.
It was on this day, 44 years ago, that women took the defiance campaign and the challenge against minority rule to new levels. It is a day to remember and honour the heroic efforts of women such as Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Dora Tamana and Bertha Gqowa.
These are the women who in the face of brutality, they marched to demand the scraping of the pass laws. We must however remember that while the march was against the pass laws, it made a greater impact on the entire struggle for liberation in South Africa. South African women, especially black women, have been oppressed on the basis of race, class and gender. We need to double our efforts to end women oppression not only in statute books, but within society as well. We have an obligation to ensure that women empowerment takes place across all spheres of life.
However successful we may be in building our nation, we will have failed dismally unless we confront oppression and discrimination on the bases of class, race, gender and economic status. The struggle for emancipation of women is therefore intrinsically linked to our broader struggles for social transformation.
We call on all citizens of our province - men and women, black and white to join hands with us in doing everything within our power to raise the living conditions of women in our country and province.
That is why I can say without fear of contradiction that we do not regard women's day as a shopping day, nor do we see women's contribution to society only as consumers of goods.
National Women's day is not just a holiday. It is society's way of acknowledging the immense contribution that women played and continue to play in the democratisation process. This we do by also ensuring that men understand gender issues and are part and parcels of campaigns to eradicate the exploitation and abuse of women.
We must however ensure that reference to gender issues is not used as a way to obscure the real issue - oppression of women. There will be no gender equality as long as men go out to rape women, young and old. While it is correct to acknowledge the fact that there are instances where women abuse men, in the majority of cases it is men who abuse women.
Many women continue to be denied full legal status and the capacity to enter into contracts, litigate and to own property or acquire credit. This is despite the fact that the Constitution guarantees equality for all citizens.
An audit by the Gender Commission revealed that most of the inequality and discrimination experienced by women lies not in the letter of the law, but in its impact. Hence a seemingly neutral law may adversely affect women, or a good law may be poorly implemented or administered in a discriminatory manner. Such hidden and often systemic discrimination is much more difficult to identify.
The Audit also suggests "the problem of inequality is often not a legislative one. It lies in the absence of policies or programmes or in the existence of gender biased or insensitive policies and programmes".
Over the past six years a range of laws aimed at improving the lot of women have been passed. They will remain laws only on paper unless we actively monitor their implementation to ensure that they benefit all women, including those who live on the periphery of our society and have yet to taste the fruits of our democracy.
In addition, we must also remember that many households in South Africa have women as heads. The per capita income of women headed households is less than half the income of other households. Over half of the unemployed in this country are women. So when we talk about poverty in South Africa, it is clear that this scourge affect women to a very large degree.
Today's activity also marks the launch of a process to recognise specific individuals or groups of individuals for their role in the ongoing struggle for national liberation. A process will soon be put in place to develop criteria to identify categories as well as the selection process. We will endeavor to include all stakeholders as well as ensure that the process is transparent.
Political parties have already started canvassing for votes in the next local government elections. Women need to take an active part to ensure that proposed plans and programmes take on board issues necessary to transform South Africa into a truly non-sexist country. We have a responsibility to ensure that as many women as is possible are placed on the candidate list. But not just on the list, but high up on the list. Women are not just voters, but leaders as well. We must refuse to be used as voting fodder.
In addition we must work together to ensure that local government is strengthened and has the necessary capacity to carry out its constitutional mandate. Among others, that mandate includes, being democratic and accountable, provision of basic services to communities in a sustainable manner, promotion of social and economic development, safe and healthy environment. It also includes encouraging the involvement of communities and community organizations in local governance issues.
I thank you