I have on many occasions wondered what it means for me to be a woman today. I ask myself questions like, ‘what greater purpose will I serve for my country, as those marching women did 65 years ago?’
This month South Africa celebrates Women’s Month, with 9 August being National Women’s Day. The day commemorates the historic march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria by more than 20,000 women of all races 65 years ago on 9 August 1956.
They were protesting against a proposed amendment to the Urban Areas Act of 1950 aimed at tightening the apartheid government’s control over the movement of black people in urban areas, which required that they carry a passbook (the infamous dompas).