Women’s Day: Government Continues To Work Tirelessly To Fight Against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, Says Ramaphosa

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA|

Today we observe Women’s Day. In reflecting on the historic march of nearly 20,000 women to the Union Buildings in 1956 we recall that as much as it was a protest against the dehumanising pass laws, it was also an economic protest.
 
At the time, racial segregation, land dispossession, discrimination against black workers, influx control and the migrant labour system were destroying communities and tearing families apart.
 
Millions of women, particularly black women, were left to fend for themselves and to care for their families alone. Many were forced to seek domestic work in white homes in cities and towns. Others turned to activities like home brewing as a means of survival.
 
The new pass laws would have rendered them unemployable. Without being able to prove they had a right to be in an urban area, they could be arrested and ‘deported’ to the so-called