KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE PREMIER, MS BEATRICE
MARSHOFF ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH OF THE
SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN LAWYERS ASSOCIATION
(SAWLA): 21 JULY 2007 – BLOEMFONTEIN.
Programme Director
Distinguished members of the South African Women Lawyers
Association Interim Committee
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Firstly, I would like to extend a sincere welcome to all delegates’
women in the legal fraternity gathered here today and further
acknowledge with utmost appreciation the presence of the
members of the SAWLA Interim Committee.
We are privileged as a province to host this auspicious occasion
of the launch of the South African Women Lawyers Association
in the Free State.
During this coming month of August our country will celebrate
and commemorate the important and historic events of the
Women’s Anti-Pass March to Pretoria in 1956. Throughout
August and on the 9th in particular, our nation will pay homage
to the struggles and achievements of South African women and
also to give meaning, context and relevance to the plight of
women in the new dispensation.
We should indeed acknowledge that women have always been in
the forefront of the struggle for freedom and equality in our
country. From the drafting of the Freedom Charter in 1955 that
declared that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, Black and
White, to the women's petition against pass laws on the 9th of
August 1956. Women have always fought united across colour
lines with a common vision of preserving their right to freedom
and equality.
In 1994, our first President of a democratic South Africa, Nelson
Mandela, made it very clear, two years before our Constitution
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was adopted, that there can be no genuine freedom without the
total liberation of the woman in our society.
He said: “It is vitally important that all structures of Government,
including the President himself, should understand this fully that
freedom cannot be achieved unless the women have been
emancipated from all forms of oppression.”
This statement affirms that the degradation of women, especially
in the name of culture, undermines the principles, values and
ideals enshrined in our constitution.
Challenging and changing the devaluation and oppression of
women in this society is central to any effort to give meaning to
the high principles and ideals enshrined in our constitution:
In this, the second decade of our freedom, women can be proud of
their role in bringing about change and unity in our country.
Through their brave participation as equal citizens of this country,
South Africa has indeed become the beacon and reflection of true
democracy.
The development of women in our country is one of the various
challenges that we have to truly and effectively overcome. Women
have over the years made a meaningful contribution in the
struggle for liberation and the ultimate realisation of democracy in
South Africa.
Our society owes it to our women to ensure that we restore the
culture of love and respect for women. We seriously need to
redefine the role of women and to alter the negative perceptions
about women in our society.
As we are gathered here, we should acknowledge that much still
has to be done in order to achieve the true emancipation of women
from the adversities they have endured because of their gender,
race and social status. We should also pay homage to our fallen
heroines who sacrificed their lives for freedom and democracy in
our country. Our thoughts should also be with the plight of those
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women across Africa for it is these women and their children who
find themselves caught between conflicts that are precipitated by
power struggles. We have to work hard to ensure that women are
actively involved in the development of our country and our
continent
It is imperative that we commit ourselves to supporting all
endeavours that are aimed at empowering women and enabling
their development. We should all look forward to a strong bond
that will assist in uplifting our people in their struggle against
poverty. I call upon all of you gathered here to showcase the
hidden resources that women, such as yourselves, represent. As
women, we should relentlessly pursue the ideal of improving the
livelihoods of our households and those of our communities until
we wipe out the scourge of poverty from Africa and the world.
Women have a lot that they can contribute to the overall growth of
the economy of this country and must be given the opportunity to
do so. It is imperative for all sectors in South Africa, the business
community in particular, to increase their commitment to the
development and empowerment of women.
It is encouraging to note that more and more women are getting
involved in the mainstream economy of our country and are active
in different sectors including mining, agriculture and information
technology. Much still has to be done to address gender
disparities, and women themselves should play a central role in
this regard.
It is also important for women to be afforded the opportunity to
grow and develop in their working environment. This is especially
relevant as is enshrined in the constitution of the SAWLA that
states “We Are committed to the advancement and
empowerment of women in law in order to achieve gender
equality in the legal sector.”
As women we have to break the “glass ceiling” that prevents
competent and capable women from occupying senior and more
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managerial positions. It is imperative that we provide our women
with platforms and opportunities to become actively involved in
the socio-economic transformation of our country.
This government has made significant progress in ensuring an
increased representation of women in government. With about
33% of members of the parliament being women and 40% of
members of the cabinet being women and 4 out 9 premiers being
women we can only ensure continued improvement in this regard.
Our province the Free State was the first to have a woman premier
and since the advent of democracy we have had three women
premiers and a women speaker of the legislature in this province.
It is therefore imperative that we present women with more
opportunities in other sectors as well.
It is an undeniable truth that despite the slew of enabling and
empowering legislation that has been enacted since 1994, many
black and female legal professionals continue to face prejudice and
marginalisation in the workplace. If we are to eliminate prejudice,
equality is a value that needs to be inculcated and shared and
upheld by the entire community - men and women alike.
Institutions like law firms and law societies too need to internalise
this value and make their environments affirming to all those
individuals that enter them.
When we look at the empowerment of the legal profession then
clearly it has to be in the context of, among other things, how we
provide professional and quality services to our people and
particularly to the poor and the marginalized.
It is imperative to realize that many of the women in our country
live in conditions of poverty and that the deliberate location of
women in rural areas and the under-development in these areas
have been responsible for the poor conditions under which they,
as a result, these women have been deprived of most of their
constitutional rights, including legal service on issues such as
domestic violence, abuse and maintenance for themselves and
their children. It is therefore crucial that initiatives such as the
SAWLA look into the plight of these marginalized and despondent
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women and ensure that they are assisted, partnered and educated
about their constitutional and legal rights.
Like the women of 1956, such as Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph,
Frances Baard, Annie Silinga and countless others, we should be
determined to put an end to the discrimination and other
challenges facing our women, and with the dedication, courage
and strength that characterised those women of 1956, let us
declare to the entire nation that the project of women
empowerment is a lifetime obligation and that gender equality is
non-negotiable.
Let us act true to the ideals of those women who marched in 1956,
so that in time, we will reach our destiny of a truly non-racial, non-
sexist democracy. I hope that this conference will ensure that our
legal system and judiciary becomes representative both in terms of
gender and race. It is imperative that we see more women and
black law professionals in the judiciary, law firms and other
sectors of the legal fraternity and this should be entirely on merit
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