South Africa: Cosatu Statement On the 60th Anniversary of the 1956 Women's March to the Union Building

press release

COSATU salutes all the women, who participated in the historic Women's March of 9 August 1956 under the three year theme; “Women United in Moving South Africa Forward”. The women of 1956 fought against immeasurable odds to organise themselves for this historic march , and to voice their demands for their dignity and that of the oppressed black majority, including the abolition of the hated pass laws. In the same vein , we salute the women of our generation, who continue to carry the torch forward ,including those that can be found in the ranks of our liberation movement, our labour movement and in our vanguard Party. These women continue to push for substantive equality and the advancement of the working class revolution.

As we mark the importance of this day, we want to encourage all our members and our Alliance partners to keep pushing forward to a goal of a society that is completely devoid of gender inequality and gender based violence. We urge our members to remain united in their quest to transform our society in terms of race, class and gender. One of our main aims is to ensure that working women are free from super exploitation in the form of lock-ins during working hours; from the pitiful wages that are reserved for women workers; and from sexual exploitation in the form of jobs and promotions for sex. Its deplorable that there are still women ,who cannot access maternity benefits and family responsibility leave in our country.

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