Chair, Ministers and Deputy Ministers present, hon members, comrades, ladies and gentleman, allow me to join all the other speakers who spoke before me to honour and celebrate the contributions of our great women. Allow me to pause and salute the pioneers who paved the way for us - the gallant heroines who rose against colonialism, protested against the pass laws and took united action against unjust laws.
Women who, under severe conditions of poverty, oppression and exploitation, created homes, and educated, developed and produced leaders of yesterday and today. I think hon Robinson was quite right when she said that we should celebrate our Florence Nightingales and Helen Suzmans. Many will agree that the 1956 demonstrations were probably the most successful and militant of any resistance campaigns mounted at that time - a revolutionary process set in motion long before the 1950s.
It is very important for us to remember and celebrate this day so that we can preserve the memory of our heroines because memory is a weapon. By remembering the brave acts of heroines we are strengthened and encouraged to pick up the spear and take those struggles forward. Let us not use this day as an ANC Women's League attacking platform for people who fail to mobilise their own forces on an open day, but blame us for their inability to motivate. [Applause.] We use this day to celebrate and thank our heroines. So, hon Duncan, go and get your act together and mobilise your own people. [Interjections.]
All these struggles had something in common - a process of deliberate, careful, systematic and coherent planning and organising. These struggles demonstrated and confirmed that when women have decided to undertake responsibility and not complain about other organisations, they can do that so well as these women did. More humbling about these struggles is that they were organised and executed with very little resources in a climate of political repression, setting in motion an irreversible momentum for the struggle of women's emancipation.
Black South African women, under the leadership of Charlotte Maxeke, led the fight against exploitative social conditions even long before the day. They organised themselves for political unity across gender and racial barriers. Under her leadership, they organised an antipass movement in Bloemfontein in 1913. In 1918, Charlotte Maxeke led a women's deputation to Cape Town to put the women's case before the then Prime Minister, Louis Botha.
In the 1920s, following the First World War, women of all races - not the ones that we have today who just complain and not come - began to slowly gravitate towards the towns and cities. Working and living conditions in these townships provided a fertile ground for the formation of trade union movements. The harsh living conditions were also felt in rural areas as political activism was experienced all over the country. During the same period, around 1928, women in Potchefstroom rose in protest against monthly fees of lodgers' permits. And again in 1928, when the Liquor Act was introduced, women organised resistance which began in Ladysmith and spread throughout Natal, focussing on areas like Weenen, Glencoe, Howick and Dundee.
It is important to know that the period after the Second World War opened another difficult period with the South African economy having gradually changed from a mining agricultural economy to a flourishing industrial economy. Reserves by this time no longer provided a subsistence base for African families who lived in extreme poverty whilst, on the other hand, urban blacks in the townships lived under very difficult conditions. The cost of living rose quite sharply to an extent that economic hardships increased and women struggled to feed their families.
It is during this period that a group of young militant trade unionists, professionals, peasants and ordinary women came together to fight against these unbearable conditions. We are reminded of great names like Frances Baard, Lillian Ngoyi, Bertha Mashaba, Dora Tamane, Florence Matomela; I can list many of them.
To create a momentum for these struggles, in 1949 the ANC Women's League elected a dynamic leader, Ida Mtwana, who took over the leadership of the women's league. In the very same period, the youth league introduced its programme of action. In 1953, the ANC elected a very dynamic president, Albert Luthuli. The combination of these forces created a momentum which ensured that, come 1956, there would be a coherent force which would resist any imposition of unfair policies to them. This period witnessed a revival of militant spirit which filtered through the organisation. Provincial branches of the ANC Women's League were established, incorporating township women, working class women, and women in the trade union movement.
I'm trying by this to demonstrate that the process of fighting against oppression was a protracted process, not just an event. Women became prominent in these areas, especially during the antipass campaigns. The protest which culminated in the 9 August 1956 march was sparked by rumours of the new legislation which leaked in the press in 1950. This matter was not new because - as I indicated earlier - it had been resisted under the leadership of Charlotte Maxeke and had been shelved because of women struggles.
After this announcement, meetings and demonstrations were held in a number of centres, including Langa in Uitenhage, East London, Cape Town and Pietermaritzburg. These, as I said, created a base for the protest that we were to see in 1956. During this period, again, women united under the leadership of women from different races and different provinces - Lillian Ngoyi, Fatima Seedat, Dr Goonan, Bettie du Toit, Hetty du Toit, Josie Palmer, Helen Joseph, Henrietta Ostrich, Lucy Mvubela, Amina Cachalia, Mildred Letsie; the list goes on. All of them stood up to protect the rights of women and the rights of everybody in the country.
In September 1955, the then government announced that it would start issuing reference books to black women in January 1956. According to this law, black people - now including women - were forced to carry these books and, at all times, they had to produce them. For instance, in the Western Cape, where these permits had already been issued, the law said that in certain boundaries established by government, no African would be hired unless the Department of Labour determined that no coloured person was available to do that work. Africans were declared as foreigners in those areas, and they would be removed and children would be sent to the reserves.
As soon as this announcement was made, women jumped quickly and organised themselves. As I have indicated, since 1912, a momentum had already been created and that is why they were able to pull together such a successful march. I will not delve into what happened on that day, save to say that the march of August 1956 and all other activities before it were a good indication that women had thrown off the shackles of the past.
Although the majority of people there were African women, coloured, white, and Indian women also attended. The crowd was orderly and dignified throughout the proceedings. After a solemn moment of silence, organisers handed their bundles of signed petitions to Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophie de Bruyn, who in turn deposited those petitions at the Minister's office.
Women had once again shown that the stereotype of women as politically inept, immature and tied to the home was outdated and inaccurate. Albert Luthuli, the then president of the ANC, paying tribute to these women, had this to say:
When the women begin to take an active part in the struggle, as they are doing now, no power on earth can stop us from achieving freedom in our lifetime. It is indeed 54 years since the women's march, so where are we now? It is a fact that, under the democratic state, space has been provided to deepen women's struggles for women's emancipation, not complaints.
As a country we have made progress to improve access to the judiciary; access to resources like clean water, sanitation and electricity; and access to education and health. Indeed, the democratic government has created an environment for the empowerment of women through a progressive Constitution and an enactment of gender-sensitive legislation - hon member Duncan, these things have happened. The democratic government has established programmes for women's development and enacted gender-sensitive laws. It has established women empowerment institutions - that is why you and I are here and we can really stand on this platform. [Applause.]
Indeed, these advances have improved the quality of life and status of women. They have created a space for women's voices to be heard on matters of concern for their lives, their wellbeing and that of society; not complaints and insults against other parties.
In 2009, Chief Statistician, Pali Lehohla, observed in Engendering Statistics that:
The early years of the 21st century have seen great improvements ... It's not I who am saying it; it's your statistician -
... in the absolute status of women with gender inequalities decreasing quite substantially in a number of sectoral areas such as education and health.
But, indeed, we will be the first to admit that a lot more still needs to be done. For instance, in the area of education, women and children's access to education is very critical, especially considering the world figures which say two thirds of children who have been denied primary education are girls, and 75% of the worst illiterate adults are women.
Whilst as a country we pride ourselves about the fact that this administration has prioritised education as an apex programme, and that we are doing very well with regard to Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, which call upon us to ensure that everybody, including girls, can complete the course of primary education, a lot still needs to be done. There is no tool for development more effective than the education of girls. No other policy other than education is likely to raise economic productivity, lower infant and maternal mortality, improve nutrition and promote health.
I agree with members who raised - Ntate Dikobo - concerns about violence against children because women, on an ongoing basis, have their movements limited, and they are in constant fear for their lives. Another area of concern which members have raised is that of poverty. Poverty is indeed being feminised. It is wearing dresses and has a woman's face.
Statistics by World Revolution in 2007 revealed that out of the 1,3 million people living in poverty around the world, 70% of them are women. Statistics after statistics give us a sad picture about the participation of women in the economy. We are told that, whilst women do 66% of the world's work, they earn less than 5% of its income in return. Again, indicators make startling observations that women work two thirds of the world's working hours, and produce half of the world's food. Yet, they earn only 10% of the world's income, and own less than 1% of the world's property. Women, in general, do not own the means of production and they still remain at the lowest rung in the job industry and the economy. This is part of the commitment we made in Millennium Development Goal 1, MDG 1, and we need to make progress.
I agree with members that our progress on the reduction of maternal mortality and child mortality is quite worrying. It is very disturbing that young women in their prime age are most affected, and hence the campaign on counseling and testing launched by the President and Minister Motsoaledi is meant to address precisely that. So, hon member Dudley, we don't say untruths. Termination has no link with maternal death. It is a burden of disease that has been scientifically proved by the Minister and statistics that it is the one that is dogging us and creating this high rate of maternal death. [Applause.]
So don't run a campaign and spread untruths which are very dangerous for our young people. It has nothing to do with termination; it has much to do with the burden of disease, particularly HIV and diseases like high blood pressure and sugar diabetics. That is where the problem is, and that is what the Minister is trying to address. So let's not spread untrue rumours.
Mrs Ditshetelo, it's not true that we have high maternal deaths because of bad treatment in our hospitals. It's again the burden of disease that is confronting us as a country, which all of us have to take responsibility for and reverse. The reason that our health system is collapsing is the burden of bad disease. We have more sick people and sick children who are crowding hospitals. It has nothing to do with that. The truth is that all of us, as South Africans, should take responsibility, encourage everyone to go for counseling and testing and confront our biggest challenge - HIV/Aids and TB. That is what we need to do. [Applause.]
Like the women of 1950, we have to work together as women. Let's not shout at each other and ask who was at the rally and who did what. It was an open rally, you could have come. If you chose not to come, don't make it anybody's problem. Let's work together as a collective and make sure that women join and participate in progressive structures. Let us also work with other women for transformation because it is in our unity that our strength lies.
We should take forward the campaigns on education; we should pay particular attention to the development of young women; and we should take the struggles to higher levels and stop bickering and saying all the unnecessary things. But, I must say, most speakers were really constructive and very encouraging. We must strengthen existing organisations, promote gender equality, and work together to ensure that the commitments made by government on the rights of women are implemented. Therefore I agree with my comrade and say, "Malibongwe!" [Praise!] [Applause.] [Time expired.]
Debate concluded.