In South Africa, they have a national holiday called Women’s Day on the 9th of August. This is not about “Mother’s Day” or Secretary Appreciation Week. No. It is about a day on August 9, 1956, when over 20,000 women of all races marched in solidarity to the Union Buildings in Pretoria South Africa against unfair Pass Laws. They delivered to the Prime Minister petitions, signed by over 100,000 women throughout South Africa demonstrating their anger and frustration at having their freedom of movement even further restricted by these hated laws of the Apartheid regime. During the march, the women sang freedom songs such as Nkosi sikeleli Afrika, however, the song that became the anthem of the march was: wathint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo, uza kufa! When you strike the woman, you strike a rock; you will be crushed (you will die)! Organized by the Federation of South African Women, the March was led by four brave women: Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa, Sophie Williams and Lilian Ngoyi.
The march was a resounding success and each year, South Africa recognizes the bravery of these women who risked arrest, detention and banning by declaring the 9th of August National Women’s Day. Most of the 20th century in South Africa was defined by a social system called apartheid that separated Black, Coloured, Indian and white people. These harsh, repressive laws, which applied to all non-whites, were most severely used against Black South Africans, limiting their ability to freely move about within their own country. It diminished their educational and economic opportunities and their basic human rights. The effect being the all-white government’s assurance that the white minority would maintain their privilege and rule within the country.
The struggle for justice and racial equality has always been compounded by the struggle for gender equality, both in South Africa and the world over. The patriarchal system, the stereotype of “women’s work”, and the struggle for pay equity must continue to be addressed in order for women to achieve equal status with men. South African women have always played a prominent role in the struggle for equal rights long before any formal women’s organizations came into being.
In 1912, one of the first non-violent massive resistance campaigns in South Africa came about when Indian women encouraged Black and Indian miners in Newcastle to strike against the starvation wages they were being paid.In 1913, Black and Coloured women in the Free State protested against having to carry identity passes, which white women were not required to carry. The struggle continues to this day as the state of women in South Africa and within the global community is still not equal to men. Women are still suffering lack of representation in government, still suffer economic and educational deprivation, and still are the victims of brutality and violence around the world because they are women.
Although Women’s Day in South Africa is a recognition of women’s rights as human rights and commemorates the contributions women have made to the struggle, there is still a long way to go before women achieve full and equal citizenship within South Africa, the U.S. and the World. In spite of women being celebrated nationally throughout the month of August, and the 9th of August set aside as a national holiday, South Africa today has the dubious distinction of being the rape capitol of the world. An extremely dishonorable distinction, which is compounded by the knowledge that only reported rapes are included in the statistics. The actual number of rapes occurring daily within the country is far higher than reported. It is time for men to engage in making the sentiment behind Women’s Day an actual reality by stopping the cycle of rape and violence against women and girls within South Africa. Action truly does speak louder than words!
Dr.T
Artistic Director and Founder
The Conciliation Project
Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University
DrT@Margin2theCenter.com
www.theconciliationproject.org
Up Next Week: Gender Based Violence: Seen & Un-Seen
