President Cyril Ramaphosa has praised women’s unwavering sacrifices for the benefit of their families and the country.
He said this on Friday during his Women’s Day speech at Pofadder’s Denis Nel Stadium in the Northern Cape.
According to Ramaphosa, apartheid “broke apart families,” but the country was founded on the shoulders of the 20,000 women who marched to the Union Buildings 68 years ago to voice their concerns.
During his speech, Ramaphosa emphasised the challenges faced by women, including the pervasiveness of gender-based violence (GBV) and the dearth of resources.
Severe inequality and poverty
He asserted that there is still severe inequality in the country and that poverty has a disproportionately negative impact on black and coloured women.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that he was proud to have appointed Mandisa Maya, the first black female chief justice, but he also stated that the nation needs to challenge many stereotypes.
The custom of paying women less for jobs that their male counterparts get paid more for needs to end, he said.
“Black women are more likely to be poor and unskilled. Many women in our country still live in shacks, tin houses, and plastic houses,” the president said.
“We must bring dignity to the women of our country; we still have much more to do.”
He called attention to the GBV epidemic and stated that more victim-friendly services are now available at police stations thanks to government initiatives.
Traumatised by violence against women
“As the government of national unity, we are united on the issue of empowering the women of our country to grow our economy. Our country is deeply traumatised by violence against women and children.
“We have introduced new laws that protect the survivors of GBV. We have opened additional sexual offence courts to address the plights of women in our country.”
He went on to tell and show men that they should zip up and stop raping.
The president said: “According to a survey, 1.5-million [7%] women are abused and violated by men in our country.
“This might look like a low percentage; however, this is not a statistic that we want because these are human beings; no woman in South Africa should be subjected to violence or sexual abuse.”
