at the Young Womenâs Indaba in Bloemfontein, Free State
26 August 2006
Thank you very much for the invitation to address what is obviously an
important question about the future and type of society that we are creating.
This issue is central to our collective national effort to establish a truly
free and caring society, premised on the principles of equality and human
rights. The struggle against passes for women was a political struggle for the
freedom of all the oppressed. The intention by the apartheid regime to force
black women to also carry passes backfired badly.
In actual fact, had they not been so short-sighted, the apartheid rulers
would have known that it was outlandish for them to hope to achieve what the
colonial regimes before them had failed to achieve early on, at the turn of the
century, in 1913 and 1919 when they tried to force black women to carry passes
like men. These bigots should have known therefore that their own efforts were
going to come to naught.
The militant and resounding rejection of the passes by the women, who in
1913, 1919 and 1956 had taken the unprecedented political steps directly to
confront the regime and reject its endeavours, communicated an unambiguous
message to the regime that women were a force and could not be bullied.
What these struggles succeeded in doing was to politicise women, to heighten
their consciousness and conscientisation and they brought sharply to the fore
the radical understanding that:
* first, the struggles of the women against the passes was a political
struggle and that women had to enter the political sphere in order to
successfully wage this struggle and hence since then, the South African women
have not just participated in politics, but have been prominent in all
political spheres, demonstrating exactly the same courage, vision and fortitude
as the men
* second, as such a political struggle, the struggles of the women against
the passes had to extend to all other political issues concerning the black
majority, for national liberation, social emancipation and democracy, and hence
they had, among others, to reject and fight against the passes not only as they
affected women, but as they affected men as well and had to demand that the
only solution against the passes was the replacement of the minority regime
with a non-racial, non-sexist government elected on the basis of universal
suffrage of one person-one vote based on the democratic will of the people
* third, to be successful and thorough-going, the struggle for political
liberation had to incorporate as an integral and not a fringe element the
struggle for womenâs emancipation, gender equality and non-sexism
* fourth, freedom was meaningless and would remain a pipedream until women
themselves were equally free
* fifth, women were not fighting as a separate and parallel force for their
own freedom, opposed to men, but their struggles made the vision of a free
South Africa complete
* sixth, the struggles for womenâs rights are struggles for human rights and
hence they belong not only to the apolitical sphere involving only women, men
must join the fight as well.
August 9th belongs to all women, black and white, young and old, rich and
poor. The historic march of 9 August 1956 served as a beacon light of hope to
millions of oppressed South African women, black and white, young and old, who
for centuries were victims of patriarchy and gender discrimination and
oppression, consigned to some petty roles that men had generation after
generation designed for them, without their consent or opinion. Some of these
roles, important as they were, were disparaged and yet for centuries they had
sustained not only households, but human life itself.
The women that marched on that day confronted not just the citadels of
racial power, but with their brave and unprecedented act, they confronted
society and male domination itself as they defied what had for long been
characterised as the traditional role of women and placed women firmly in the
heart of politics. In acting in this way, they acted not just for their own
generation that was being forced to carry passes, but they acted for all women
across the generations, colour lines and ages, so that even today that march
has become a monumental symbol of the defiance of sexism, patriarchy and gender
discrimination. They acted not just for themselves, but for society as a whole
as well as for men as well.
The question arises though, whether young women today regard this as their
day too. Do they identify with the symbols and images used during womenâs
month; the issues raised in debates and discussions and the voices heard
defining the significance of this day? The question is, does August mean
anything to young women at all?
What would it take for it to have a contextual meaning to a little girl, a
teenage girl, a girl in her early 20s, a young female student, a young
professional woman, an unemployed young woman and a rural young woman? How are
todayâs generations of women marching towards the future, defying and
confronting the last vestiges of male domination and sexism?
Indeed, many of the challenges women face are common across the generations
and age groups, yet there are those that are pertinent to young women in our
society today, about which the country needs to be made aware and to which it
must respond. We must bridge the age gap among older and younger women. Whereas
enormous progress has been and is being made comprehensively to address the
challenges and concerns of women, more still needs to be done. Social
transformation and an end to sexism are common.
Through their actions, and in fighting so resiliently for national, gender
and social emancipation, the women of our country taught us that the struggle
for women emancipation and gender equality was, simultaneously, a struggle for
human emancipation, a struggle of all humanity for all humanity, a struggle for
human rights! Because of their heroic efforts, our peopleâs aspirations for
freedom and for gender equality, for a non-racial and a non-sexist society,
were merged into a single vision for freedom.
The progress we make with regard to social transformation in general would
therefore ultimately depend on, and at the same be informed by, the progress we
would also make with regard to the rights and interests of women, and the
creation of a non-sexist society. The two are inseparable; they are at the same
time the cause and outcome of one another! The emancipation of women is one of
the principal ingredients for the creation of a new and caring society, and of
the eradication of all forms of oppression and exploitation of one human being
by another. What we are saying is that women, in pursuing their own
emancipation, must at the same time fight against all forms of oppression and
exploitation.
Women's rights are for all women, not the elite only. Necessarily, and owing
to their worst condition in the ladder of oppression and disadvantage, working
class and rural women must constitute the leading element of the struggle for
gender equality, indeed to infuse it with a radical content. We must counter
the emerging tendency that seeks to reduce women's struggles into just efforts
to become high-ranking managers and entrepreneurs, as though to suggest that
women emancipation amounts just to this or that all women aspire for and will
become high-ranking managers and entrepreneurs.
Indeed, whilst we should support and pursue the accession of women to these
positions, we should be stubborn in insisting that the better life must be for
all, all of them to participate in and benefit from economic empowerment.
The women must lead the struggle for gender equality. It is them who must
lead the struggle for their own emancipation and to liberate us men from
antique and ideological lies and practices that define the role and place of
women in society and the struggle. In this regard, they must be the most
mobilised, conscientised and organised for their own emancipation, for national
liberation and social emancipation. South African women fight for national
freedom, for social freedom and for gender equality. As women, they fight for a
society free from sexist discrimination, sexual prejudices and sexual
oppression.
Hence, fifty years after the historic march on the Union Buildings, we are
obliged to expand the fronts of action against gender oppression and sexism by
sustaining, intensifying and sharpening the attack on chauvinism, patriarchy
and sexism, certainly to defeat the stereotypes and petty cultural and
traditional excuses for women oppression, exploitation and gender
inequality.
We must spell out forthright that this struggle is not against men but
against their oppression, marginalisation and discrimination. Accordingly, the
struggle for womenâs emancipation is not a struggle for women alone. But, they
must lead it! They must be upfront in confronting their traditional roles and
defy any hurdles placed before them by the male-dominated society and must
assume their proper role, outside the kitchen and into the leading ranks of our
movement, society and transformation.
The challenge is also for men. On their part, men must accept that their own
emancipation and development depends, in large measure, on the full and genuine
emancipation and development of women and accordingly they must support this
struggle for a non-sexist society and champion the improvement of the quality
of life and status of young women in particular, and all women in general.
We must free ourselves from the chains imposed upon our necks by centuries
and generations of indoctrination and mis-education, the wrong ideas and
stereotypes of our forefathers, founded, sustained and based on oppressive
social relations and we must stop hiding behind culture, customs and traditions
to justify this awful injustice. What the many fighting women of our country
expect from us are new attitudes and culture of full equality, justice and
respect for all!
The freedom we are fighting for demands of us equal passion for the
emancipation of women and gender equality that we demonstrate in our pursuit of
our other political interests. What future generations expect of young men in
our society is the courage to break with the past, to carve a new path and
establish new systems of beliefs and practice, supported by relevant and
requisite institutions and behaviour. After all, what do we have to fear from
equality with women and a non-sexist society?
Young women must be at the forefront! Young women must occupy the front
ranks of the struggle to ensure equal access for women to educational, health,
social welfare, sports, cultural, arts and recreational facilities. They must
lead the struggle against HIV/AIDS, rape, physical and other forms of abuse and
other such practices that oppress and exploit women and must vociferously fight
for their rights and their dignity, both in word and deed.
Quite frankly, even within the ranks of the youth organisations, we should
not even pretend that young women have the same opportunities as men. An
all-round and integrated programme to promote gender equality among the youth
must be pursued with vigour, starting in our own organisations and deliberately
we must champion and strive for the empowerment and affirmation of young women
in all political, social and economic spheres of society; for them to be
prioritised in terms of youth development.
We must raise the level of political and social consciousness,
responsibility and activism of young women and ensure that they are active in
womenâs organisations, including the Progressive Womenâs Movement. You must
support the Progressive Womenâs Movement and ensure that it succeeds in
discharging its historic responsibility as the champion and custodian for
womenâs unity, and a better role in this organisation to ensure that they use
it to raise to prominence the issues and challenges they face as young
women.
An organised and united progressive voice for young women is desperately
needed in South Africa. I am sure that this conference will succeed in its
deliberations and will emerge with practical programmes that would be used to
lobby and advocate for young womenâs issues across the political and economic
spectrum of our country.
Thank you again for inviting me to do these brief and perhaps unimportant
remarks.
Thank you.
Additional information:
The Indaba is an initiative of the Department of Home Affairs, in
partnership with Free State Provincial Government and National Youth
Commission, to get together young women from various sectors of life to find
solutions on problems affecting them. The event was part of the governmentâs
broader programme of celebrating the struggles of women whilst at the same time
mapping a way forward towards the total emancipation of women of this
country.
The event was attended by 500 young women from various parts of the province
and was held at Presidentâs Hotel in Bloemfontein. The Indaba deliberated on
issues affecting young women and the role they have to play in creating a
better society. It aligned interventions by various government departments and
developmental institutions aimed at fast-tracking women development.
Resolutions of the Indaba will be incorporated in the Integrated Youth
Development Strategy and National Youth Service Programme.
For more information, please contact:
Khulekani Ntshangase
Cell: 076 851 6168
Issued by: Department of Home Affairs
26 August 2006
