President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to deliver the 2020 National Women’s Day keynote address on Sunday. The address will be held virtually due to the national lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The address will be under the global Generation Equality campaign with the theme: “Generation Equality: Realising women’s rights for an equal future.”
The National Women’s Day is celebrated annually on August 9, with August referred to as Women’s Month. It serves to commemorate the 1956 march to the Union Buildings by women as they protested against the apartheid pass laws and their impact on women.
“Women’s Month is a platform from which government and civil society are able to highlight the challenges confronting women and profile programmes and policies that advance women’s empowerment and gender equity,” the Presidency said in a statement.
2020 Women’s Month objectives
The Presidency says 2020’s Women’s Month objectives include advancing efforts to end gender discrimination and the advancement of women’s rights in the cultural, economic, political and social spheres. The Presidency says the mobilization of women and the strengthening of formations towards the development of sustainable Action Coalitions are among the objectives.
“The Month also aims to advance efforts to develop national consensus around a programme of gender policy priorities and programming to advance the gender agenda in the period 2020-2025, and towards the achievement of gender equality in South Africa by 2030. Women’s Month 2020 is also directed towards giving impetus to the accelerated implementation of programmes for women, youth and persons with disabilities.”
The Presidency says government and civil society are working together to address national priorities such as the eradication of gender-based violence, expanding youth employment and ensuring reasonable accommodation for people living with disabilities.
Gender-based violence in South Africa:
