On 9 August 1956, thousands of South African women marched to the Union Buildings to protest the extension of the inhumane pass laws to women. The words they sang, “Wathinta abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo” (You strike a woman, you strike a rock), are now celebrated as one of the powerful battle cries of the apartheid resistance movement.
The month of August has evolved to recognise the role that women now play in moving South African society, culture, local industry, and national identity forward. Women now assume an array of leadership roles in all sectors of society, but more work remains in closing the gender gap, removing the threat of gender-based violence, and ensuring women are empowered to take up their rightful places in all sectors of society.
The United Nations has identified Gender Equality as its fifth of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). According to a UN Sustainable Development Goals study, it will take 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace. Statistics like this remind us that we cannot become complacent.