African National Congress (ANC) general manager Fébé Potgieter-Gqubule says some of the equal rights that the women marched for, at the Union Building in Pretoria in 1956, haven’t been realised. She was speaking at the South Africa-China Women’s Forum, in collaboration with the Africa-Chinese Women’s Association celebration event in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

GENDER PAY GAP NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED 

Potgieter said the gender pay gap is one of the important issues that haven’t been realised. "All these problems that women face are linked, you can’t address the problems of political rights without addressing the problems of a gender pay gap because women in 1956 already spoke about the gender pay gap and all these other issues. You can’t talk about the rights of women that they can move around freely without addressing the issues of equal work pay for example," she said. She said these issues remain relevant to this day. "The issue of representation, rights of women, economic inclusion and we can’t look at one without looking at the others," she said. She also added that women from different races needed to work together. "In 1954, the Federation of South African Women was formed and brought together all national groups in South Africa, white women, women from the Indian congress, coloured people’s organisations, ANC, churches, rural and urban women... that’s the importance of working together, she added.

WOMEN ARE STILL NOT FREE 

Ekurhuleni Council Speaker Nthabiseng Tshivhenga who also attended the event and said as the whole country celebrates Women’s Day today, they should strive for more equality. "Those women of 1956 were a gateway for us women to be where we are now for example. I am one of the youngest council speakers in the country because of the efforts of those women that marched all those years ago," she said. Tshivenga said despite all this, women are still not free. "We are still not free as women, we are still not in a space where we can really celebrate but we appreciate having countries such as China, a member state of BRICS who are here with us in solidarity to celebrate the struggles of women also in solidarity with us in trying to move and achieve more," she added. The event was hosted China Consulate in Johannesburg.