The National Dialogue must be a place for women to raise their voices
 
Dear Fellow South African,  
 
On 9 August each year, we celebrate Women’s Day, where we commemorate the 1956 Women’s March on the Union Buildings. The march was a political protest against the apartheid-era pass laws, but it was also a powerful assertion of women’s agency.  
 
It signalled that the women of South Africa, who were at that time relegated to the status of perpetual minors by the apartheid regime, would not be passive bystanders as their lives were profoundly affected by policies made about them, without them.
 
On Friday this week, organisations from across South Africa will gather at the National Convention in Pretoria to kickstart the National Dialogue process.  
 
Given the history of women’s struggles in our country, it is therefore to be expected that at this critical moment in our history, women will once again come to the fore and participate actively National Dialogue process.
 
When we announced the National Dialogue we said that it will bring together individuals and organisations from across society to find common ground and new solutions for our country’s many challenges. 
 
Women make up more than half of our country’s population. Women are affected by every political, social and economic issue in the country. Likewise, every crisis, whether it is unemployment, crime or climate change, affects women equally and, in some instances, more than men.
 
Recognising that the lives of women are bound up with the future of the nation as a whole, we are counting on women’s groups and organisations to mobilise around the National Dialogue process.  
 
As government, working in partnership with the various stakeholders, we have committed to ensuring women are equally represented across the structures supporting and guiding the process. 
 
If we are to remain true to our objective of giving all sectors of society a voice as we build the South Africa we want, we have to ensure that all women are represented. This means a concerted effort to mobilise young and old, urban and rural dwellers, women from different ethnic and linguistic communities, women with disabilities, and LGBTQI+ people.  
 
The reality is that women’s struggles are not all the same and we should not assume they are. Although they may be similar in certain respects, the issues and challenges facing rural women and women in traditional communities differ vastly from those of women in urban areas with access to education, resources and public services.  
 
This was one of the points made at last year’s South African Women’s Pre-National Dialogue convened by the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation. It emphasised that the National Dialogue process should focus on all issues affecting and impacting women, and that diverse perspectives and priorities of all South African women must be reflected. 
 
As the Government of National Unity we seek to drive the strategic priorities of inclusive growth and job creation, tackling the effects of poverty and the high cost of living, and building a capable, ethical and developmental state.  
 
We remain committed to ensuring that gender is mainstreamed in all government policy and that a gendered lens is consistently applied to every challenge when developing and implementing solutions. No government decision should be made without due consideration of how it impacts women specifically. 
 
Throughout periods of profound change in the history of South Africa, women have organised to ensure that their voices, consent and participation remained central to all decisions affecting them either directly or indirectly. 
 
The inclusion of the gender equality clauses in the Freedom Charter was heavily influenced by the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) formed in 1954. More than three decades later, the Women’s National Coalition, which was formed in 1992, played a formative role in ensuring that these passages were reflected in South Africa’s democratic constitution.  
 
From the protests against the pass laws, to the so-called beer-hall protests of 1959, to the rent boycotts of the 1980s, to the contemporary protest movements against gender-based violence, South African women have a proud history of standing up and being counted.  
 
With the first National Convention taking place during Women’s Month, we call on all sectors of society to come together to ensure the full participation of all women in the National Dialogue. This would be the most fitting and powerful tribute to the legacy of the pioneers of 1956. 
 
With best regards,