Yesterday was Women's Day - a public holiday to commemorate the brave deeds of women in South Africa. It marks the anniversary of the march to parliament in 1956 organized by Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa, Lilian Ngoyi and Sophy Williams-De Bruyn to protest against the proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act which would require all black people to carry a identification "pass" in urban areas to effectively keep them out unless they were officially employed by whites. 20 000 women, black and white, and indeed from all colours of our incipient rainbow nation, marched to the Houses of Parliament in Pretoria to present their petitions. Today it is a huge badge of honour to have been part of that march!We celebrated the day with a wonderful lunch at Quay Four at the Waterfront, and were entertained by the antics of this cute little girl on the deck below us. How the women who marched over 50 years ago, many of them sadly no longer here, would appreciate such a simple scene of harmony and peace.
Cape Town Time
The posts of both my blogs were celebrating Women's Day yesterday. Truly a day to celebrate.
ReplyDeleteNever knew about this little bit of history. Why did women in particular take up this cause? Why not everyone?
ReplyDeleteEveryone did - but in different ways. This was just one very small part of a much bigger whole.
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