Not much to celebrate on Women's Day, says Amnesty International & Numsa
South Africa commemorates Women's Day on Monday, marking 65 years since the historic 1956 Women's March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
Many organisations have, however, lamented the dire situation that women in the country continue to face.
Amnesty International says women and girls are the most severely affected by service delivery failures, especially when it comes to issues of water.
"Women and girls bear the brunt of poor access to service delivery, poverty and inequality," says Amnesty International South Africa executive director Shenilla Mohamed
"Many of them do not have access to running water and toilets in their homes, and are often afraid to go to outside toilets at night for fear of their safety, especially in a country with high incidents of gender-based violence.
"Children, especially girls, are more likely to drop out of school if there are no adequate and safe toilet facilities.
"The lack of access to water and sanitation also creates heightened health risks.
"Violations of the right to water and sanitation lead to the violation of other rights, including safety, education, health and dignity.
Amnesty International says it's almost unbelievable that 65 years after the Women's March, South African women are still having to fight for their rights to be protected.
"It is also unacceptable that it’s only in the month of August that we put more emphasis on the rights of women because we celebrate Women’s Day," says Mohamed.
"This needs to be a year-round priority."
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) shares Amnesty International's concerns.
"The coronavirus pandemic has magnified existing structural problems such as unemployment, inequality and poverty and it is working-class women, particularly Black and African women who continue to experience the worst suffering under this system," says spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola.
"The current expanded definition of unemployment is at a staggering 43 percent, and women have been hit the hardest.
"According to the National Income Dynamics Study Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey, approximately 2.5 to 3 million people lost their jobs between February and April last year.
"These job losses affected women the most with women accounting for approximately two million jobs lost.”
Women also continue to earn less than men.
"According to Stats SA Inequality Trends Report women earned 30% less than their male counterparts for doing the same job,." says Hlubi-Majola.
"So, not only are they grossly exploited in the workplace, women also suffer as victims of domestic violence and they struggle to access resources to improve their lives.
"We are not free until every woman is free from the bondage of slavery caused by poverty, inequality and unemployment.
"We can only achieve genuine equality when we create a society where all the resources are geared towards improving conditions for all of us, and where women are genuinely empowered."
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