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The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Director General, Advocate Mikateko Joyce Maluleke, says democracy has ensured that women occupy their rightful position in society.

“Sometimes when there are women in a leadership position, some will attribute it to affirmative action and women empowerment. No! Women fought to be where they are. It was not just given to them,” Maluleke said on Tuesday in Cape Town.

Addressing young women at Transnet’s Cape Town Harbour, Maluleke said women fought for the struggle of emancipation.

“Women have been involved in the struggle for freedom since 1912. In 1956, women marched to the Union Buildings. They were brilliant.

“People do not usually talk about the strategy that women engaged in order to go to the Union Buildings. They could have been arrested before they could get far but because they worked as domestic workers, they had their bosses’ children on their backs and walked to the Union Buildings,” Maluleke said.

South Africa commemorates Women’s Day annually on 9 August to pay tribute to the more than 20 000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 in protest against the extension of pass laws to women.

Women’s Month is a tribute not only to the thousands of women who marched on that day in 1956, but also a tribute to the pioneers of the women’s movement in the country

This year’s Women’s Month takes place under the theme, ‘Accelerating Socio-Economic Opportunities for Women’s Empowerment’.

This theme highlights the need to ensure that all women have access to participate equally in all areas of human endeavour.

As part of Women’s Day build-up activities, the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD), in partnership with Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), hosted an outreach programme with women in logistics at the Cape Town Harbour in the Western Cape.

Established in 2000, TNPA operates container terminals in Durban, Ngqura, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.

With the many challenges that women face in society, women occupying leadership positions at Transnet encouraged the young women from various schools across the country to work hard in school and believe in themselves.

Spreading their wings

Transnet Specialist Planning and Development Manager, Zanele Dywibaba, is a qualified town planner. Dywibaba has described the port space as a “dynamic” one that has given her room to thrive.

“The introduction into the port space was something new but I have realised that it’s a dynamic space. I started at Transnet in 2016.

“I have found there is a balance between men and women who occupy leadership positions because the organisation ensures that it meets its Employment Equity targets. They also prioritise women being in the operational space, which historically was male dominated.

“Women are taken seriously at Transnet. We can offer capability than what traditionally women were not seen to be able to handle.”

As someone who grew up in a home where she was raised by her mother, this experience demonstrated to Dywibaba that women are strong and capable of doing anything.

“My mother raised five children single-handedly as a domestic worker. That is where I got my strength. My siblings and I have all gone to tertiary because my mother used to encourage us to follow our dreams.

“She would tell us to dream big and not be discouraged that she is a domestic worker. She made us believe that we would occupy big spaces. Your circumstances do not determine who you become,” Dywibaba said.

Transnet Academy Head, Captain Theresa Williams, narrated her life journey, which begins with her being born in a caravan to parents who did not have an education.

“My mother taught me how to sew clothes at the age of 12 and I was selling them at the flea market and the train station.

“Transnet advertised a bursary and I applied. My bursary covered my university fees. It did not cover my travel so I continued while I was studying to sell clothes so that I have money for toiletries.

“I didn’t allow my birth [circumstances] to define my future. I grabbed the opportunities I was given and I did not waste them. I continuously studied,” Williams said.

She is a marine pilot and is capable of captaining vessels.

“I am one year short in my studies to captain a vessel of any size in the world. I am still studying. Whatever you are going through, everyone has a story. Live a life of no excuses,” Williams said. – SAnews.gov.za