President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Friday, August 9 2024, officiate the National Women’s Day Commemoration hosted by the Khâi-Ma Municipality at Pofadder in Namakwa District of the Northern Cape.
The theme for this year’s Women’s Day commemoration is “Celebrating 30 Years of Freedom Towards Women’s Development”. This will take place at the Denis Nel Stadium in Pofadder.
The national event marks 68 years to the day since 20,000 women of diverse backgrounds from across South Africa marched to the Union Buildings to protest against the extension of Pass Laws to women.
During 30 years of democracy, South Africa has made significant strides in advancing gender equality. This is in all domains of society, including economic empowerment of women.
The Women’s Charter advances women’s economic programmes through targeted reforms that drive equality.
First commemoration under GNU
Women’s Day 2024 is the first national day led by the Government of National Unity (GNU). It takes place in a rural community as part of including all South Africans in national events. It also places a focus on the achievements and needs of women in all corners of the country.
Ahead of leading the commemoration at the Denis Nel Stadium, Ramaphosa will do a tour of the local project. He will tour a services-on-wheels exhibition of government services that will be provided to citizens attending the national day. He will also tour a trade expo featuring small medium and micro enterprises led by women entrepreneurs in the Northern Cape Province.
The commemoration will be at the said venue at 10am.
Meanwhile, the Gauteng government will host its provincial Women’s Day celebration at the Union Buildings in Tshwane. This year marks the 68th anniversary of what is now Women’s Day, in remembrance of the historic 1956 women’s march in Pretoria.
Background
On August 9 1956 tens of thousands of women took to the streets in Pretoria. They were protesting the introduction of pass laws, which limited the movement of black and minority South Africans. They also segregated them and required them to carry a pass at all times to authorise their presence in certain areas.
On the day, the women marched peacefully to the Union Buildings in Pretoria. There, a representative from each race group carried 14,000 petitions to end pass laws to the prime minister at the time, JG Strijdom. The petition called upon the government not to issue pass laws to African women. They wanted to secure the fundamental rights of security, freedom and justice. There were three main points to the petition:
- Women would lose the right to move freely in their own country.
- Homes would be broken up when women were arrested under the pass laws.
- Women and young girls would be humiliated and degraded by pass-searching police.
Over 20,000 women stood in silence for half-an-hour, and then they started to sing a protest song. This song, which is translated as you strike a woman, you strike a rock, now represents women’s courage and strength.
