Former SA First Lady calls for continuous struggle for women’s rights

SOUTH AFRICA, Johannesburg FORMER South Africa’s First Lady Ms Zanele Mbeki has called for continuous actions by women from across Africa and the world at large in the struggle for their rights in order to fast track realisation of the issues agreed during the 1995 Beijing Conference.

Ms Mbeki said that during the conference women expected that to date the world would have been changed because the struggle against gender-based violence would have been taken much far.

She said the conference also expected that the rights of girl child would have been attained and fought and succeed on women’s representation.

“These are just some of the issues that have not become better, but in many parts of the world have become worse including in our own country …so this suggest that we are not at the stage where we can rest, we need to continue,” Ms Mbeki said on Wednesday at the ongoing SAWID 20-Year Celebration Annual Dialogue.

The 1995 fourth world conference on women held in Beijing marked a significant turning point for the global agenda for gender equality.

The Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action, adopted unanimously by 189 countries, as an agenda for women’s empowerment and considered the key global policy document on gender equality.

It sets strategic objectives and actions for the advancement of women and the achievement of gender equality in 12 critical areas of concern which are women and poverty, education and training of women, women and health, Violence against women, women and armed conflict and women and the economy.

Other areas are women in power and decision-making, institutional mechanism for the advancement of women, human rights of women, women and the media, women and the environment and the girl-child.

The South Africa Women in Dialogue (SAWID) is an independent platform committed to hearing the voice of every woman and improving the status of women by engaging national government, the private sector and civil society in partnership to shape community, provincial and continental agenda.

The event themed ‘Advancing Peace and Development’ brought together women across South Africa as well as from the rest of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region.

Ms Mbeki who is the SAWID Patron commended the organization for been able to mobilise young people, work with women from South Africa and across the border especially poor women and women across political parties.

“This demonstrates the importance of being united …we realise that sisterhood matters… it actually does not matter what political party you represent, what matters is standing for the truth,” she said.

She said it is now high time for women from all walks of life and political parties to fight for women’s rights decisively noting that it will be possible if   women will stand together and fight for children and the environment.

Ms Mbeki said that South Africa has a formidable powerhouse of women who can change the face of the country noting that together with sisters on the continent can change the face of Africa for the better.

Ms Mbeki further said that women are the core of civil society in Africa adding that across Africa the struggles of civil society have been central to the great achievements of the people.