Programme
Director,
Students and
Gallant Women of our Country
Distinguished
Guests
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Introduction
I am
delighted to deliver the Florence Matomela Lecture, during Women’s Month, to
this distinguished audience of bright minds. I am certain you have experienced
social exclusion or discrimination of one form or another. Hitherto, the
situation of women in countries that have experienced colonial and patriarchal
domination was described as “triple oppression”.
At one level,
black women have been exposed to political oppression and racism, with no right
to vote. Secondly, and with working class men, they were exploited and deprived
of economic opportunities, with no share in the country’s wealth.
Thirdly, for
over centuries women have been vilified on grounds of gender, with no regard to
race or class.
Edmund
Waller, in his “Song”, says he wants the woman he had loved to remember: “How
small a part of time they share/that are so wondrous sweet and fair.”
In another
context, I find it important to talk about the importance of the 1956 Women’s
March to Pretoria and national Women’s Day, to young women who are still “so
wondrous sweet and fair.”
It is only by
placing issues underlying the misery of women high on the transformation agenda
that we can hope to achieve equal opportunities and progress for all. Our theme
for Women’s Month this year is “Working Together for Equal Opportunities and
Progress for All Women. This year also marks the beginning of the Decade of
African Women recently adopted by the African Union.
It feels good
to talk about the importance of the 1956 Women’s March and National Women’s Day
in the Eastern Cape. Your province has played a significant role in the
struggle. It gave us a role-model you must emulate – Cde Florence Matomela.
Background:
The Pass Law System
Let me remind
you that at the turn of the 20th Century, women were denied of human and
political rights. In South Africa, they had no right to vote and therefore no
platform to decide or influence their fate and that of their families and
children.
One of the
most vicious forms of subjection was the pass law system that curtailed and
limited movement of Africans in their own motherland. They had to carry, and
produce on demand, reference books, derogatorily called “the dompass”. The
‘passbook’ was a concrete image of racial discrimination big enough to dig a
hole in a man’s pocket. Yet, some say not much has changed in our country.
But, take it
from me, the day I threw away my “dompas”, I felt good inside! I felt free. It
was a Biblical feeling of an oppressed people walking out of “Egypt”, crossing
the river Jordan, with freedom in their hands.
As renowned
poet, Mongane Serote, puts it in “City Johannesburg”, “my pass” was “my life”.
Every time I entered the white city, I saluted the cops with my pass “while my
stomach groan[ed] a friendly smile to hunger.”
It was
because of those cruel pass laws that women took matters into their hands. At
the time, women were united under the banner of the Bantu Women’s League, the
forerunner of the ANC Women’s League. They staged a daring protest march
against the pass law system during the reign of Prime Minister Strijdom, on 9
August 1956.
This is why
democratic South Africa declared 9 August, Women’s Day. With the gravity of
gender inequality, the whole of August is dedicated to activities raising
awareness around trying and often untenable conditions under which women live,
at home, at work, in schools and universities.
The
importance of the 1956 Women’s March
The
Declaration of the Progressive Women’s Movement of 8 August 2006, has neatly
captured why we must celebrate efforts of women like Florence Matomela. We
celebrate the 1956 Women’s March because, during this time:
“We salute the
pioneers that paved the way for us, we remember the gallant heroines and heroes
who rose against colonialism; those who protested the pass laws; those who took
united action against unjust labour laws; those women who under severe
conditions of poverty, oppression and exploitation, created homes, educated and
developed and produced leaders of yester year and today.”
During this
time, in “recalling the history of South Africa and the triple-fold struggle
characterised by class, race and gender oppression, [we] salute the struggles
which led us to democracy” (Ibid).
Many agree
that the 1956 demonstrations were probably the most successful and militant of
any resistance campaign mounted at the time. There are many lessons to learn
from them. Most importantly, they answer the question of how we came to be
where we are today. Women’s Month activities are part of the revolutionary
process set in motion in the 1950s.
Most of all,
the Women’s March was in itself a process requiring careful planning and
precision. It demonstrated the ability of women to organise.
You will be
interested to know that the March was planned over a period of two years, with
very limited resources, in a climate of political repression.
It showed
that by 1956, women were highly politicised and well-organised into a powerful
resistance movement. Contributing factors to politicization included harsh
living conditions and exposure to city life. From that moment on, women’s
struggles have gathered momentum, irreversibly.
Political
activism was strongly felt also in rural communities, like the district of
Herschel and Qumbu in this province, the Eastern Cape, as early as the 1920s.
Remember, this terrain produced leaders like Florence Matomela.
Women who led
the 1956 March represented a broad spectrum of leaders, including, Lilian
Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Sophy Williams and Rahima Moosa. As we pay tribute to
them, we also salute heroines like Madi Hall-Xuma, Frances Baard, Dorothy
Nyembe, Adelaide Tambo, Albertina Sisulu, Winnie Mandela and many others.
Even in the
period before the 1956 March, a lot of work had been done to highlight the
plight of women, under the careful eye of dedicated leaders like Charlotte
Maxeke.
The
Federation of South African Women, formed in 1954, also gave impetus to mass
protests of the 1950s. It had regional branches and many members throughout the
country.
The history
of the 1956 Women’s March is very important. It must be told especially to
young women who are still “so wondrous sweet and fair”, in a poetic sense,
before they are tempted by trappings of consumerism, or dissuaded by
perceptions that the ‘law of the father’ is predetermined.
This year’s
theme is very relevant precisely because it reminds women of our country that
“working together we can do more to advance equal opportunities and progress
for all women.”
The ANCWL
correctly noted in a 2007 Discussion Document that women’s power gained further
impetus in 1943 when the ANC accepted women as full members – a development
leading to the formation of the League, in 1948, with Madie Hall-Xuma as first
president. That policy change, on the part of the ANC, demonstrated that women
are a powerful agent of change.
And so, when
we celebrate Women’s Day we go back in time to also remember women leaders in
the league of Charlotte Maxeke whose life was best described by Dr AB Xuma, in
1935. Dr Xuma, former president of the ANC, said she was “the mother of African
Freedom.” Indeed Charlotte Maxeke was the mother of the women’s struggle.
We organised
this lecture to encourage promising young women at university to help preserve
the memory of Charlotte Maxeke and women leaders like Florence Matomela.
‘Memory is a weapon’; by remembering brave acts of women, we can pick up the
spear and take women’s struggles to greater heights.
This must be
your historic mission as you go through your studies and as you return to your
communities to plough back for what they have done for you, including your
parents who educated you “under severe conditions of poverty.”
In a
nutshell, the importance of the 1956 Women’s March lies in the fact that it
demonstrated “that the stereotype of women as politically inept and immature,
tied to the home, was outdated and inaccurate” (2007 ANCWL Discussion
Document).
Who is
Florence Matomela?
It is in this
context that we must look at the life and times of Florence Matomela, a child
of the Eastern Cape, who was born in 1910, in the year this country was
proclaimed a Union of South Africa through the Act of Union of 1909, to the
exclusion of the African majority.
She was a
teacher, a loving mother, an ANC Veteran, an anti-pass activist, a civil rights
campaigner, a champion of oppressed women, a communist, a revolutionary and
working-class leader who gave her life to the noble fight for freedom.
In 1950,
Florence Matomela led a demonstration in Port Elizabeth “that ended in the
burning of permits” (South African History Online). Permits, in terms of influx
control regulations, were used to restrict the movement of Africans, keeping them
in poverty-stricken areas.
“In the mid
1950s, Florence was the Cape provincial organiser of the African National
Congress Women’s League” (South African History Online).
She was also
one of four Vice-Presidents of the Federation of South African Women, launched
on 17 April 1954 at the Trades Hall in Johannesburg.
One of the
important contributions of the Federation of South African Women is that it
gave us the 1954 Women’s Charter which acknowledged the triple oppression of
women and the role of women in the struggle.
But always
remember that Florence remained on the side of the masses of our people to the
very end, till her death in 1969, due to diabetes, still under banning orders.
The South
African History Online suggests that “her health deteriorated badly” while she
was serving a five-year prison sentence for furthering the aims of the ANC,
which was banned at the time; “she was sometimes deprived of much-needed
medical attention, such as the insulin for her diabetes.”
It is now 54
years since the Women’s March, and therefore important to ask the question:
‘Where are we?’
Achievements
In 2009,
Chief Statistician Pali Lehohla, observed in Engendering Statistics that “the
early years of the 21st century have seen great improvements in the absolute
status of women globally, with gender inequalities decreasing quite
substantially in a number of sectoral areas such as education and health.”
Gender
equality, in South Africa, has been on the agenda of transformation for a
while. The democratic Constitution (of 1996) guarantees the rights of all to
equality, freedom and human dignity.
South Africa
is a signatory to a number of international instruments for the promotion of
rights of women, including, the SADC Declaration on the Prevention and Eradication
of Violence Against Women and Children and the Convention on the Elimination of
all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Goal 3 of the
Millennium Development Goals, which calls for the elimination of gender
disparity in primary and secondary education by 2015, has been achieved. “The
primary enrolment rates of girls about doubled in South Asia, Sub-Saharan
Africa and the Middle East and North Africa, rising faster than boys’ enrolment
rates. This substantially reduced large gender gaps in schooling” (Padi
Lehohla, Engendering Statistics, 2009: 2)
Other
democratic gains in our country include the following:
The ANC has
adopted the policy of 50/50 gender parity;
Representation
of women in the legislature has risen to 44% after the 2009 elections;
The number of
women in the Cabinet stands at 40%;
The ANC-led
government has introduced income support programmes for women;
Access to
resources, like clean water, sanitation and electricity; and
Creation of
space for women to be heard.
Challenges
Gender
disparities, as the ANC Women’s League has reminded us, continue to
characterise South African society.
HIV and AIDS
is one of the greatest challenges to human development and in particular, to
women. For reasons of poverty, patriarchy and other forms of cultural
domination, women are more vulnerable to HIV and AIDS than men.
It is men who
own and control the means of prevention. Men can decide when and when not to
use a condom, even a female condom that is in any case less marketed than the
male condom.
Most
disturbing are conclusions from the Antenatal Survey showing a rise from 0.7%
in 1990 to 29.3% in 2008 in the HIV prevalence epidemic curve among antenatal
women (1990-2008); 4 districts recorded HIV prevalence above 40%; 17 districts
recorded between 30% and 40% HIV prevalence (6 in KZN, 3 in Gauteng, 4 in Free
State, 2 in Mpumalanga & 2 in the North West).
By 2006, life
expectancy in South Africa had dropped to 51 years for males and 56 years for
females. In the same year, 2006, Stats SA Mortality showed that 59.3% of deaths
(6 out of 10) were deaths of people younger than 50 years. It is disturbing
that young women in their prime are most affected, and therefore, scary to
imagine what this means for the human population if this trend persists.
My message to
you is very clear: Know your rights and responsibilities regarding health and
services that are available to you, and defend these with your life, for your
own sake.
Violence
against women and children is still rampant in our homes and other places in
spite of progressive laws, like the Domestic Violence Act. As has been
suggested by the ANC Women’s League (2007 Discussion Document): “There is a
direct link between violence and poverty. Black women are disproportionately
the victims of economic disempowerment due to the combined effects of apartheid
and sexism.”
Poverty
remains a formidable challenge that has to be highlighted during this year’s
Women’s Month and beyond. As has been said, ‘poverty has a woman’s face.’ For
instance:
Of the 1.3 billion
people living in poverty around the world, 70% are women (World Revolution).
The Women’s
International Network has recently proposed that “women do about 66% of the
world’s work in return for less than 5% of its income.
And according
to AskWoman, “two-thirds of children denied primary education are girls, and
75% of the world’s 876 million illiterate adults are women.
World
Development Indicators, 1997, has made a startling observation that: “Women
work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, produce half of the world’s food
and yet earn only 10% of the world’s income and own less than 1% of the world’s
property.”
The 2010
Employment Equity Report has shown under-representation of women in the
workplace. For instance, at top management level, African women are at less
than 3% while Coloured and Indian women stand at 1% each.
The media,
inadvertently or otherwise, continues to reproduce the stereotype of women as
‘sex-objects’ only good enough to the extent that they satisfy expectations of
patriarchal society. It is in this context that the Beijing Platform for Action
stated in Critical Area 10 a reality that still persists to this day. I quote:
“The lack of
gender sensitivity in the media is evidenced by the failure to eliminate the
gender-based stereotyping that can be found in public and private, local,
national and international media organisations...”
What is to be
done
I am of the
view that to reverse the subordination of women, steps to be taken should
include the following:
Working in partnership
with women in all sectors for social transformation must be intensified
(Declaration of PWM, 2006).
The
development of young women must be prioritised, with young women included in
progressive structures (Ibid).
Promotion of
gender equality and strengthening of the gender machinery within government,
the legislature and within civil society must also be emphasized (Ibid).
Education
must be a precondition for development, empowerment and progress. Without
education, as the old saying goes, you will remain like ‘a tree with no roots’
or a ‘soft bush in a high wind’, and that way, you will forever remain a
‘modern slave’ of patriarchy and poverty.
Therefore,
get education. This is the best advice I can give you today, which I believe
would have been shared by Florence Matomela and the over 20 000 women who took
to the streets of Pretoria in 1956.
Now that you
are here, “make much of time”, not to break your virginity as the poet suggests
in “To Virgins to make much of time”. There is AIDS out there! Rather, know
your priorities, and never lose sight of the reason why you are studying.
Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, has expressed this
even much clearer when he said:
“There is no
tool for development more effective than the education of girls. No other
policy is as likely to raise economic productivity, lower infant and maternal
mortality, improve nutrition and promote health – including helping to prevent
the spread of HIV and AIDS.”
During and
beyond Women’s Month, we must continue to work for gender equality. Like women
of the 1950s, women have to work together, as a collective.
Nobody can
change your life for you. Thus we have said, free your mind through the most
potent weapon of them all – Education. Florence Matomela was a dedicated
teacher and therefore made a difference in the lives of many. She participated
in many progressive structures only to ensure a better life for all. You can do
the same.
Conclusion
Lastly, by
being here, getting education, you have made the right choice. This is the best
way to celebrate achievements of Florence Matomela and of all other women
leaders who were produced by the National Democratic Revolution.
Education,
coupled with a responsible life, will give you the necessary power to preserve
and sustain your “wondrous sweet and fair” lives free from all forms of
oppression. Out of this lecture, let us continue Working Together for Equal
Opportunities and Progress for All Women.
Wathint’
abafazi!
Wathint’
imbogodo!
I thank you.
