Parliament, Friday, 8 March 2024 – Celebrating International Women’s Day today, the Chairperson of the Multi-Party Women’s Caucus (MPWC), Ms Nkhensani Kate Bilankulu, said although the focus is on recognising and celebrating women’s and girls’ social, economic, cultural, and political achievements, society should remain keenly aware of all the challenges they still face.
“Today we celebrate the achievement of our female sports stars, businesswomen, female politicians, female authors, and those in the entertainment industry. We are proud of the recommendation to have our first female Constitutional Court judge since democracy. We are proud of all of you. Now let’s provide a helping hand to those women trying to break into your sector,” Ms Bilankulu said.
“Although South Africa has made great strides in ensuring a better tomorrow for our women and girls, we are not blind to the challenges that still exist. More work needs to be done by all of us,” she continued.
The United Nations theme for International Women’s Day 2024 is, “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”, aimed at tackling economic disempowerment. Meanwhile, the campaign theme for the year is “Inspire Inclusion”, which places the emphasis on diversity and empowerment to achieve gender equality. Yesterday’s briefing to the MPWC on the progress achieved in establishing a cooperative bank for women, youth, and people with disabilities was part of this movement towards gender equality.
“The MPWC have been pushing projects that would lead to the advancement of these groups, especially women, in our communities. In many of our societies, we find that there is still patriarchy, and women’s empowerment and achievements are not always supported, underplayed or under-acknowledged,” Ms Bilankulu said.
In preparing for national and provincial elections in May, she continued, “This is an opportunity for us as South Africans to show we inspire inclusion and put greater focus on celebrating women in politics. As the MPWC, we urge all political parties to at minimum have a 50/50 split of gender representation in Parliament and the provincial legislature. Very few political parties have made strides in this and have been advocating this. Now is your chance!”
Celebrating our achievements this International Women’s Day, Ms Bilankulu noted, also comes at a troubling time for South Africa, as more and more girls and women disappear and are murdered and where the rate of gender-based violence (GBV) continues to rise. “The MPWC calls on our communities to stand up against GBV, to fight for the safety of our girls and women, to fight for the empowerment of our girls and women,” she urged
During this time, we also hold hands with the women, girls, and all people of Palestine who do not have the freedoms we currently enjoy. “We stand with all oppressed people, specifically our women and children, who at many times becomes collateral damage in conflict situations. We are proud of the position our government has taken in holding transgressors to account,” said Ms Bilankulu.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE MULTI-PARTY WOMEN’S CAUCUS, MS NKHENSANI KATE BILANKULU.
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Name: Rajaa Azzakani (Ms)
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E-mail: razzakani@parliament.gov.za
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