Pretoria - Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, said women who took up the fight for gender equality and freedom more than 100 years ago remain an inspiration to the current generation.
Speaking at International Women's Day celebrations in Kimberly on Tuesday, Xingwana said South African women leaders such as Lilian Ngoyi, Dorothy Nyembe, Albertina Sisulu, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and several others opened the doors for women to fight for gender equality.
"The women who took up the fight for gender equality and freedom more than 100 years ago remain an inspiration to all of us. We remember them today as we mark the centenary of International Women's Day. They inspired subsequent generations of women leaders," said Xingwana.
"They were the women who opened the doors for many of us. Today, we salute them for their sacrifice and dedication to the struggle for a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society."
On this day, exactly 100 ago, women campaigned across the world for the right to vote and to be voted into public office. They demanded equality and decent working conditions.
The theme of the international celebrations is "Equal access to education, training and science and technology: pathway to decent work for women."
Women are most affected by unemployment, casualisation of labour and various challenges posed by the economic downturn. As government declared 2011 the year to create more jobs, there was a need to ensure jobs created through the New Growth Path also benefitted women.
"For women to take up these positions, we need to build on the progress we have made by increasing access to education for girls. Young women have to be beneficiaries of various learnership and training programmes that are being initiated. Yes, women can be artisans, boilermakers or any other skill that our economy requires.
"We need to make concerted efforts to increase the number of women in the field of Science and Technology," said the minister.
Education, science and technology are one of the focus areas for the African Women's Decade. The Heads of States of the African Union declared 2010-2020 the Decade of African Women.
The goal of the decade is to fulfil commitments on gender equality and women's empowerment at grass root level.
Violence against women and children remain one of the major challenges facing society and government has re-introduced the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) units in all 176 policing areas countrywide.
As the municipal elections are around the corner, Xingwana urged women to demand equal representation to ensure that their interests are represented at the local sphere of government.
South Africa currently has 44 percent of women representation in Parliament, 43 percent in Cabinet and 40 percent of councilors in the sphere of local government.
All of these advances have mainly been due to the ruling party, the ANC, committing to the principle of 50/50 gender representation.
Meanwhile, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has added its voice, saying migrant women need access to decent skilled jobs commensurate with both their experience and educational qualifications.
"Increased attention should be given to the situation of skilled migrant women for whom qualifications and education do not always translate into higher-skilled employment in destination countries," said the IOM.
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa said while women were still on the receiving end of social injustice, authorities should ensure that correct measures are in place for equal gender representation in all sectors, thus affording women an opportunity to partake in the economy.
The Congress of South African Trade Union is urging and challenging working-class women around the globe to start an International Solidarity Campaign and mass-based civil society development initiatives aimed at bringing about social justice and economic emancipation of women and children. - BuaNews
