Wathint'abafazi wathinta imbokodo.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala yesterday , Friday 31 July 2020, officially launched Women's Month in the province as a fitting tribute to more than 20 000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 in protest against the extension of Pass Laws to women.
The virtual launch of Women's Month took place at a time when the country is battling the Covid-19 pandemic which has also posed serious challenges for women.
The Covid-19 national lockdown has witnessed an increase in gender-based violence, leaving women and girls vulnerable and in danger.
During his virtual launch of Women's Month, Premier Zikalala touched on the many challenges faced by women under this year's theme: "Generation Equality: Realising women's rights for an equal society now."
The main focus for Women's Month is gender-based violence and discrimination, the advancement of the rights of women and girls in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres of life.
The Women's Month will also raise awareness about women's empowerment, skills development, job creation and health issues.
The start of Women's Month was preceded by the celebration of Pan African Women's Day.
Pan African Day is celebrated worldwide as a day to celebrate women in Africa on their strides in development, empowerment and impact in the development of the continent and the diaspora.
Highlights for Women's Month in the province included Women's Parliament on August 7 and Women's Day on August 9.
A number of events have also been lined up to celebrate Women's Month throughout the month of August including:
● The Provincial Women’s Parliament which takes place on the 7th August 2020
The Provincial Parliament will be virtual
One of the focus areas will be to bring together all the inputs made on the policy and programming priorities for the period 2020-2025 and to 2030.
Produce consolidated reports from activities including remote or virtual dialogues at community, district, organizational/ institutional/ sectoral, institutional and provincial level.
● Provincial Roundtable hosted by the Premier on Provincial Gender Equality Priorities for 2020 – 2025.
The roundtable will bring together 35 key role players drawn from government, legislature, private sector, civil society and traditional leadership.
Women’s Month 2020 will be recognized under the theme: Generation Equality: Realising women’s rights for an equal society Now
In IsiZulu: Ukulingana Kwezizukulwane : Ukuzuza amalungelo abesifazane ukuze kube nomphakathi olinganayo.
Setting of the Event: Provincial roundtable hosted by the Premier on 9th August 2020. The event will be hosted physically and virtually to reach a wider audience.
Objective of the event is to dialogue on priority actions for achieving gender equality in the Province and ‘What Women Want’.
The roundtable will be led by the Panel of Speakers on
- Violence against women and girls
- ICT
- Women’s empowerment
- Education
- Health
- Economic empowerment
Delegates: 35 participants will attend physically at the venue and additional delegates will join the event virtually and will be streamed LIVE for the broader community .
Join the conversation on all our social media platforms use #WomensMonth2020 & tag @KZNGOV.
Live Streaming on these platforms:
[FACEBOOK] KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
[TWITTER] www.twitter.com/KZNGOV
[YOUTUBE] www.Youtube.com/kznonline
Happy Women's Month
