Women’s Day in South Africa turns 70 with equality still out of reach

One of my favourite protestation songs rings retired each twelvemonth connected August 9, which is Women’s Day successful South Africa. The opus works arsenic a telephone and response: 1 acceptable of voices cries out, “You person struck a woman,” portion different acceptable responds, “so, you person struck a rock!”

The chant dates backmost to the historical protestation that gave South Africa’s Women’s Day its day and meaning. In 1956, 20,000 women marched connected the Union Buildings successful Pretoria successful absorption to “pass laws” that the apartheid authorities was seeking to widen to African women. African men were already taxable to the indignity of carrying passes, and with this latest move, thousands of home workers crossed the state instantly understood that they excessively would beryllium subjected to random stops and searches by police. What small state of mobility they enjoyed would beryllium snatched away.

Led by the multiracial Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) and the Women’s League of the African National Congress (ANC), a radical of politically engaged women organised a petition and a march to reason the incoming laws.

After months of hard work, thousands of women, astir of them Black, woke up astatine the ace of dawn and began to marque their mode to the Union Buildings, the spot of powerfulness of the Afrikaner government. By 9 that morning, they had gathered successful beforehand of the bureau of the Minister for Native Affairs.

It was nary mishap that the rally took spot connected a Thursday, which was besides known arsenic “Sheila’s Day.” In the 1950s and 1960s, Sheila was a generic sanction utilized to picture Black women who were home workers; a casual mode for achromatic women employers to notation to the African women who worked successful their homes without having to retrieve their existent idiosyncratic names. Most madams gave their unit Thursdays disconnected and truthful it came to beryllium known arsenic Sheila’s Day.

As a delegation handed implicit a petition, the women broke retired successful song, pointedly addressing past Prime Minister JG Strijdom and insisting, “Strijdom, you person struck the women, truthful you person struck a rock!”

I was a young feminist successful the 1990s and I retrieve singing that opus countless times astatine rallies, protesting gender-based unit and calling for attraction for large women surviving with HIV and AIDS. I remember, too, the stories of older women who marched connected August 9, who reminded younger activists that galore of them had taken to the streets implicit the objections of their husbands and chap antheral comrades. They explained that astatine the clip they did not person the connection to explicate however race, people and sex intersected; they conscionable knew however sexism felt successful their bodies.

By the clip we were marching for a caller acceptable of rights, they had talented america the connection and investigation to picture however race, people and sex shaped women’s experiences. Their stories besides showed america that sexism did not beryllium neatly extracurricular the conflict against apartheid: women could basal alongside men successful a liberation question portion inactive having to combat for equality with those aforesaid men. This was 1 of the astir important legacies of the women’s march successful 1956.

The rally that time failed to halt the walk laws, but it had a acold much important interaction connected the South African governmental landscape, efficaciously launching the South African women’s movement. The momentum and defiance of that time gave women successful consequent generations a blueprint for activism and analysis.

When apartheid ended successful 1994, galore of the women who had been astatine the forefront of the march successful 1956 were inactive progressive successful politics. The question they had helped physique was specified a almighty unit successful the modulation to ideology that astir a 3rd of the incoming parliament comprised women, making South Africa 1 of lone a fistful of countries with specified beardown women’s practice successful politics.

Once they were successful power, the daughters of 1956 pushed done galore ineligible and argumentation changes connected reproductive rights, customary instrumentality and matrimony – and the rights of home workers.

As a effect of their efforts, South Africa has immoderate of the astir progressive laws and policies promoting sex equity and equality successful the world. More than 30 years aft the extremity of apartheid, women inactive represent astir 45 percent of parliamentarians and 44 percent of ministers.

Yet these gains person not translated into safety. South Africa’s archetypal nationalist gender-based unit survey recovered that 33.1 percent of women aged 18 and older had experienced carnal unit successful their lifetime, portion 1 successful 5 men surveyed admitted to perpetrating carnal oregon intersexual intimate spouse violence. The persistence of specified unit exposes the limits of ceremonial equality: laws tin alteration faster than the attitudes, relationships and behaviours that signifier women’s lives.

The aforesaid spread betwixt ceremonial rights and lived world is evident successful economical life. The disconnect betwixt the rights enjoyed by women successful positions of powerfulness who person helped signifier South Africa’s laws and the lives of women successful the mediocre communities to which they are accountable is stark.

South African women surviving successful poorness are besieged by precocious levels of unemployment, gender-based unit and mediocre entree to wellness and acquisition services, portion middle-class women bask galore of the privileges erstwhile reserved for whites only. This is due to the fact that successful the past 30 years the ANC-led authorities has done small to dismantle the underlying economical structures that upheld apartheid. Formal equality has not translated into worldly equality for millions of women.

It is hard to find anticipation for women successful South Africa’s statistics. Indeed, galore women I cognize don’t observe Women’s Day – they are weary. Yet the women’s question that the march helped galvanise 70 years agone inactive has overmuch to thatch us.

The acquisition we larn from the vibrant question that was created that time is that sex equality cannot beryllium driven by women’s demands alone. Real advancement requires telephone and response. Women person been making the telephone for generations. It is clip for men to respond.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.