EDITORIAL | GBV sullies women’s gains

Seventy years ago today, thousands of women marched to the Union Buildings to protest against the oppressive law requiring black women to carry passes.

Their power lay not in the volume of their voices, but in their restrained silence. Those 30 minutes of orchestrated quiet were a powerful reminder not to mistake a woman’s forbearance for weakness.

But how has that historic moment in 1956 helped shape the lives of women in 2026?

There have been some resounding achievements in the advancement of women’s rights in South Africa, but also some spectacular failures.

Heartening strides have been made in education. Higher education & training department statistics reveal that 65% of graduates from public tertiary institutions in 2023 were women. They outnumbered men in every field of study, including science and engineering.

Also, recent Absa data revealed that more than 50% of its first-time homebuyers were single women, while Standard Bank reports that women have made up 70% of its home loan clients over the past decade.

Yet the glass ceiling remains firmly in place. The Commission for Employment Equity annual report, released in July, found that men remain dominant at the top management level, at more than double female representation. Women, who are often both caregivers and providers, have a much steeper climb up the corporate ladder.

But, indisputably, it is South Africa’s inability to stem gender-based violence that has been its biggest failure. The country has a severe femicide crisis with a rate nearly five to six times the global average, with about 15 women killed every day.

What would those women at the Union Buildings 70 years ago think of that statistic? They would weep, because the cruelty and oppression they fought so valiantly against all those years ago still thrive today.