South Africa’s Women’s Parliament convened in Kimberley this week at Sol Plaatje University, drawing citizens’ attention to both the progress made and the ground still uncovered in the country’s long pursuit of gender equality. The gathering, part of Parliament’s Women’s Month programme, placed the everyday stakes of that pursuit squarely before the public.
Speaker of the National Assembly Thoko Didiza opened the event by acknowledging real, measurable gains. Women now hold 43 percent of seats in Parliament and 45 percent of Cabinet positions, and lead several key constitutional institutions. Since 1994, when South Africa’s constitutional democracy took shape, these shifts have altered the landscape of public life. But Didiza was direct about what remains unfinished: unemployment and limited economic participation continue to constrain the futures of women and young people across the country.
The choice of Kimberley as the venue carried deliberate weight. Seventy years ago, thousands of mine workers mobilized by Francis Baard and others protested against worker mistreatment in this city. Baard, who faced treason charges for her role in the anti-apartheid struggle and her organizing of women, helped lay the foundation on which South Africa’s democratic institutions would later rest. That history was not backdrop. It was the point.
Didiza framed the gathering around the theme “Wathint’ Abafazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo: 70 Years of Resistance, 72 Years of Vision,” a phrase honoring the women of the 1950s and their vision of women walking “side-by-side with their countrymen to build an equal society.” The theme, she said, was both tribute and summons, calling on women today to draw on the “fountain of courage and resilience” of their predecessors to tackle the societal challenges facing the country now.
The Speaker reflected on the arc of change across three decades of constitutional democracy. Women now lead across government, courts, universities, and the private sector. “Ubani owayazi ukuthi one day we would have women heading the two arms of the state in our country?” she asked, invoking the improbability of such a shift just decades earlier. The judiciary, she noted, has also strengthened women’s rights through judgments on inheritance and traditional leadership.
By contrast, economic participation remains a critical gap. Didiza also stressed the need for ethical leadership and sound governance to sustain the institutions built over thirty years of democratic rule. These are not abstract concerns. They shape whether citizens, particularly women and young people, can access opportunity, security, and fair treatment in daily life.
Her vision extended beyond women alone. Empowering girls and young women, she said, must not come at the expense of the boy child. “Empowering girls and young women should not leave the boy child behind, so that we can attain true gender justice and equality.” That framing reflects a broader civic understanding: gender equality, when pursued well, benefits all citizens.
The Women’s Parliament continues as part of Parliament’s Women’s Month programme. The open question it leaves behind is whether the institutions built over three decades can now be turned more decisively toward closing the economic gap that political representation alone has not resolved.