As we usher in Women’s Month, the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) officially launched the commemorative month under the theme “Women’s Socio-Economic Rights and Empowerment: Building Back Better for Women’s Resilience” on Monday, 1 August.
This year’s Women’s Month is a call to action to all of society, government and partners to take tangible steps forward in responding to the most persistent challenges affecting the lives of women and girls. The year 2022 marks the 66th Anniversary since the march of approximately 20 000 women to the Union Buildings to petition against the pass laws of the country at the time.
During her address to 1000 guests, Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said the strategic focus of this year’s theme is to advance women’s socio-economic empowerment agenda towards the achievement of gender equality by 2030. “The theme is in line with South Africa’s constitutional vision and government’s policy priorities as outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP) and the 2019-2024 Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF),” said Nkoana-Mashabane.
The minister reiterated that frank conversations need to be had on the socio-economic empowerment and advancement of women, young women, and women with disabilities in South Africa. She said: “At the heart of our mandate as the department is to ensure that women, youth and persons with disabilities play an effective role in representation, ownership and control of income generating assets within the economy. We must view their participation as critical to ensuring the objectives of the Economic Recovery and Reconstruction Plans are met.”
Nkoana-Mashabane said 28 years into democracy women still remain on the periphery of the country’s developmental agenda. She said the Covid-19 pandemic has deepened existing inequalities leaving millions of women at the receiving end of high levels of poverty, increasing food and fuel prices, climate change, unemployment and high rates of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF).
“We find ourselves in a moment of crisis where we need to act collectively to defend the democratic gains that the women of 1956 have worked so hard to achieve. In the words of the struggle stalwart, Mme Ida Mntwana: ‘Let us come out as a united force, let us take our place in the struggle for freedom. If we all put our shoulders to the wheel, the time will come when we will be proud of the acts of women. Let us unite, let us go forward with courage and determination’.” added Nkoana-Mashabane.
