In South Africa, August is Women’s Month – and each year, August 9th is celebrated as National Women’s Day.
National Women’s Day celebrates the strength and resilience of women and their contribution to society and country.
National 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 empowering women and achieving gender equality to date.
Women’s Day is an important day to call for equality
National Women’s Day is a South African public holiday commemorating the 1956 march of approximately 20,000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition containing more than 100,000 signatures against the country’s pass laws that required South Africans defined as “black” under The Population Registration Act to carry an internal passport, known as a pass, that served to maintain population segregation, control urbanisation, and manage migrant labour during the apartheid era.
The 1956 protest saw members of the Federation of South African Women (FSAW) rally against the Apartheid government. The protest was supported by mothers, daughters, sisters and friends who decided enough was enough and came together to initiate change. Not only did they march, they remained standing outside the Union Buildings in silence for 30 minutes in a non-violent and very powerful display of unity.
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.
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