This weekend, SmartCape pays tribute to all those heroines who have made it possible for us to enjoy our freedom today. Government officials have called on all sectors of society to unite in a national effort for the advancement of women in all spheres of South African society.

August 9 is an annual public holiday when citizens of South Africa celebrate the achievements of women, and together they advance women's struggles for empowerment and their rights to full equality. This year's Women's Day celebrations take place under the theme "Together empowering women for development and gender equality"

As citizens of a province with a female premier, we can feel proud to be at the forefront of the battle for women to be treated as equal to men.

53 years ago, on the 9th of August 1956, over 20 000 women made their way to the Union Buildings in Pretoria.  Women of all ages, races and backgrounds came from all over the country to march to the Union Buildings to protest against the extension of the Pass Laws to women.  This was a government regulation requiring the carrying of passes (special identification documents which curtailed an African person's freedom of movement during the apartheid area).

The protesting women were led by anti-apartheid activists, Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Sophia Williams and Rahima Moosa.  "The situation on the day (9 August 1956) was very electrifying as everybody was looking forward to a serious confrontation," marcher Amina Cachalia recalls. "As a young person at the time, the march was a learning curve for a journey that finally came to the election of the new democratic government." 

Even though an appointment was made to hand over the petition to Prime Minister JG Strijdom, it was later announced that he could not see the women.   They left bundles of petitions containing more than 100 000 signatures at his door.  Outside they stood silently for 30 minutes, many with their children on their backs. Those who were working for white people as nannies were carrying their charges with them. Their anger was expressed in a song: "Wathint' Abafazi Wathint' Imbokodo" (you have touched the women, you have struck a rock, you have dislodged a boulder, you will die). The phrase has now incarnated to: "you strike a women, you strike a rock" to represent women's courage and strength in South Africa.   Cited: POWA.

The women's anti-pass campaign lasted for seven years. With constant arrests and intimidation, the government finally forced black women to carry the hated passes. In the early 1960s, it put a total ban on rural women coming to urban areas.  

Now the pass books are a thing of the past. Still, 9 August is celebrated every year as Women's Day - in memory of the 1956 mass anti-pass demonstration, when women proved that they were not powerless to make significant changes to a way of life that discriminated against them primarily because of their race, but also because of their class and their gender. They had the ability to organise themselves and to be a political force to be reckoned with. The 1956 march was the biggest mass gathering of women ever held in South Africa and is celebrated and commemorated on Women's Day. In 2006, its 50th anniversary, a re-enactment of the March took place.On National Women's Day, we celebrate and honour the history of women's resistance in South Africa. We recognize the important role of women in the transformation of South Africa into a democracy.   We honour the endless hours of unpaid work done by women in the home and in caring for children. Women should be treated with love, respect and dignity. Women need recognition in their communities and their cultures, in education and in government.

Happy Women's Day to all South African Women!

Sources for this article:

• Wikipedia
• POWA
• Women24