August is Women’s Month in South Africa; and each year August 9th is celebrated as Women’s Day. National Women’s Day in South Africa draws attention to many of the important issues that women in Africa still face - such as domestic violence, discrimination and harassment in the workplace, equal pay, education for girls and more.
You have tampered with the women. You have struck a rock."
Women’s Day is a day that annually celebrates the strength and resilience of women and their contribution to society and country. Women’s Day forms part of South Africa’s Women’s Month which provides an opportunity to pay tribute to the generations of women whose struggles laid the foundations for the progress made in the empowering women and achieving gender equality to date.
The first National Women’s Day was celebrated on 9 August 1995. In 2006, a reenactment of the march was staged for its 50th anniversary, with many of the 1956 march veterans participating.
During the 1950s women within the Congress Alliance came together to combat the inherent sexism that existed within various anti-Apartheid groups, such as the ANC. Lillian Ngoyi (a trade unionist and political activist), Helen Joseph, Albertina Sisulu, Sophia Williams-De Bruyn, and others formed the Federation of South African Women. The Federation of South African Women was launched in Johannesburg in 1954 as the first attempt to establish a broad-based women's organisation. The prime focus of the FSAW soon changed, and in 1956, with the cooperation of the ANC's Women's League, they organised a mass demonstration against the new pass laws.
A Women’s Charter was written at the Federation's first conference and called for the enfranchisement of men and women of all races; equality of opportunity in employment; equal pay for equal work; equal rights in relation to property, marriage and children; and the removal of all laws and customs that denied women such equality. The Charter further demanded paid maternity leave, childcare for working mothers, and free and compulsory education for all South African children.
By the middle of 1956 plans had been laid for a march to take place in Pretoria. The Federation of South African Women (FSAW) had written to request that the current prime minister, JG Strijdom, meet with their leaders so they could present their point of view. The request was refused.
The ANC then sent Helen Joseph and Bertha Mashaba on a tour of the main urban areas, accompanied by Robert Resha of the African National Congress and Norman Levy of the Congress of Democrats (COD). The plan was to consult with local leaders who would in turn make arrangements to send delegates to the mass gathering planned for August.
The Women’s March of August 9th, 1956 was a spectacular success. Women representing all racial backgrounds, from all parts of the country, as far as Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, arrived in Pretoria from where they flocked to the Union Buildings in an orderly yet determined manner. They filled the entire amphitheatre in the bow of the Herbert Baker building. It is estimated that the number of women delegates ranged from 10 000 to 20 000, with FSAW claiming that it was the biggest demonstration yet held. Walker describes the impressive scene:
'Many of the African women wore traditional dress, others wore the Congress colours, green, black and gold; Indian women were clothed in white saris. Many women had babies on their backs and some domestic workers brought their white employer’s children along with them. Throughout the demonstration, the huge crowd displayed a discipline and dignity that was deeply impressive.’
This photo from the day by DRUM is cited as one of the most moving images of non-racial solidarity South Africa has produced.
Neither the prime minister or any of his senior staff was there to see the women, so as they had done the previous year, the leaders left the huge bundles of signed petitions outside JG Strijdom’s office door. It later transpired that these were removed before he bothered to look at it. Then, at Lilian Ngoyi’s suggestion, a masterful tactic, the huge crowd stood in absolute silent protest for a full 30 minutes. Before leaving they sang 'Nkosi sikeleli Afrika.'
The women's anti-pass campaign lasted for seven years. By constant arrests and intimidation, the anti-apartheid government finally forced black women to carry the hated passes. In the early 1960s, government put a total ban on all rural women coming into urban areas.
On National Women's Day we celebrate and honour women, recognising the important role of women in the transformation to a democratic South Africa as we continue to pave the way to equality for all. Today and every day we honour the history of women's resistance in South Africa.
WHAT WAS THE SOUTH AFRICAN PASS LAWS?
Pass laws were designed to control movement of Africans under Apartheid, evolving from regulations imposed by the British and Dutch in the 18th and 19th century slave economy. In the 19th century, new pass laws were enacted for the purpose of ensuring a reliable supply of cheap, docile African labour for the gold and diamond mines. In 1952, the government enacted an even more rigid law that required all African males over the age of 16 to carry a "reference book" containing personal information and employment history.
Africans often were compelled to violate the pass laws to find work to support their families, so harassment, fines, and arrests under the pass laws were a constant threat to many urban Afs. Protest agains these humiliating laws fuelled the anti-apartheid struggle from the Defiance Campaign (1952-54), the massive women’s protest in Pretoria (1956), to bring of passes at the police station in Sharpeville where 69 protesters were massacred (1960). In the 1970s and 1980s, many Africans found in violation of pass laws were stripped of citizenship and deported to poverty-stricken "homelands." By the time the increasingly expensive and ineffective pass laws were repealed in 1986, they had led to more than 17 million arrests.
A MESSAGE TO THE WOMEN IN MY LIFE
Happy Women’s Day wishes to all the incredible, brave, beautiful, nurturing, resilient and fun-loving women in my life. Especially the mother who raised me, the daughter who makes me so very proud, the remarkable women in my family and my phenomenal girlfriends all over the world who support and challenge me with their conversations, laughter, music and wine - no matter the hour or craziness. My world would be empty without you and my story a lot shorter and definitely a lot less colourful!
To my female colleagues in tourism, hospitality, conservation, environmental and animal rights - you inspire me and drive me to do better, to be better.
To the men who care, love, encourage, and empower me - thank you. My husband and son ranks highest among them.
On 9 August 2021 in South Africa it is Women’s Day; we celebrate and pay tribute to the brave females who marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 to protest peacefully against the extension of Pass Laws to women. Women’s Month this year is celebrated under the theme: Generation Equality; a campaign that links South Africa to global efforts to achieve gender equality by 2030.
Source of info and photos: SA History