COSATU Statement for National Women`s Day
8 August 2014
60th anniversary of women’s charter and 20 years in freedom
Together moving non-racial, non-sexist South Africa forward
COSATU statement for National Women’s Day
The Congress of South African Trade Unions joins all South Africans in marking National Women’s Day and commemorating the Historic Women’s March of 9 August 1956, which was a turning point in the history of women’s role in the struggle for freedom for all. We dedicate this day and the whole month of August to recommit ourselves to the struggle for women’s liberation all over the world.
South Africa
August 2014 will mark a number of historic events that serve as proof that women played a role in the struggle to liberate the people of this country, including:
• 60 years after the adoption of the Women’s Charter in 1954
• 20 years after the adoption of the Women’s Charter for Effective Equality in 1994
• 20 years of democracy and freedom in South Africa in 1994
• 19 years after the country signed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and ratified Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1995.
Despite these advances, however, the struggle for women still continues. COSATU is particularly worried about the escalating violence and crime against women and children, including the abduction and shooting of children in the recent past, all of which undermine the strides forward made by women since 1956.
- On 21 July 2014 four-year-old Taegin Morris was dragged to death behind his mother’s car by hijackers in Reiger Park Boksburg as his mother watched helplessly whilst the boy was hanging out of the door of her speeding car.
- On 22 July 2014 in Bronkhorstspruit six-year-old Aaron Phike was abducted for a week after a car hijacking, whilst driving with his father who was badly injured in the incident.
- On 03 August 2014 in Westbury, Johannesburg, a three-year-old boy was shot by a stray bullet and he is now on life support because his injuries left him brain-dead.
The loss of one little life is one life too many. COSATU during this month will not be celebrating but will be mourning the loss of the young ones who lost their lives in the hands of cruel, inhuman criminals.
We call on all the COSATU unions, provinces and members to embark on activities against violence and crime and also to give the families moral support during the Court cases. We also call on law enforcement authorities to make sure that they spare no effort but ensure that violent criminals are put behind bars and justice is served without any bribery or loss of dockets and evidence, and families and the communities of these young ones get answers and justice.
Palestine
Women and children are used as bargaining tools in Gaza, where, since 9 July 2014 Israel has been on a killing spree. Palestinian children and whole families are being wiped out by the Israel artillery attacks. On 12 July 2014 Israel killed four young Palestinian boys innocently playing soccer on the beach, and two disabled Palestinian women were killed in a bomb planted at the centre.
The women workers of COSATU won’t be celebrating this month until the women and children in Palestine are free. During the month of August COSATU will be sensitising our members on the Palestinian struggle so that they can be able to take forward the struggle and be in solidarity with the women and children of Palestine who are killed like flies every day.
We shall be mobilising women behind the campaign of boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against the Israeli regime, urging them to refuse to buy any Israeli goods and to have nothing to do with any companies that trade with Israel and prop up their war machine.
Nigeria
276 girls were kidnapped from the Chibok Government Secondary School on 14 April 2014 by Boko Haram Terrorists in Nigeria. 9th of August marks 117 days since the girls were kidnapped. COSATU calls on all its structures to continue with the campaign to bring back all the girls and unite them with their families.
The campaign has been driven at the national level; we now call all the nine Provinces of COSATU to march, hold rallies, and picket outside the premiers’ offices, Nigerian embassies and consulates in support of the parents of the abducted girls who have been with the terrorists since April.
National Gender Committee
The COSATU National Gender Committee which sat on 6-7 August 2014 adopted strategies to take forward the Women’s Month campaigns. We agreed to join hands with women in all walks of life and make a loud noise to end violence, hijacking and killing of women and children in the country, region, continent and the whole world.
Despite the strides the government has made to pass laws to protect workers, and women there are still huge gaps and no specific legislation addressing maternity protection and benefits. The current legislation excludes vulnerable categories of women workers, whose labour rights have been violated in the workplace on the basis of their reproductive role as mothers.
COSATU believes that maternity protection and benefits are fundamental human rights and key to the decent work and gender equality agenda in the world of work. Working women play an important role in the economy of the country and therefore they should enjoy maternity protection and benefits in line with the national and international standards.
Therefore August will see the launch of a campaign to ensure that government ratifies the ILO Maternity Protection Convention 183 and its recommendation R191. Part of the campaign will be to urge the COSATU negotiators at NEDLAC to resuscitate the debate on ratification of this important international standard for women. We shall also to ensure that the benefits of women who are currently enjoying maternity benefits are not watered down.
The federation urgently calls on employers to put provisions in place to create supportive environment for pregnant and nursing women.
COSATU during August will also be raising awareness among workers - especially in vulnerable categories - about existing maternity rights, legislative provisions and the protection available to challenge non-compliance by employers.
The campaign will be ongoing. We will be requesting the unions and shop stewards in the workplaces to identify non-compliance with the laws and practices that are undermining the national and international standards on maternity rights. Those employees will be named and shamed by the whole labour movement.
The federation also condemns the racist and sexist disrespect shown to black working-class women recently by the students at the University of Pretoria who posed as domestic workers.
On top of all this women at work face all the same problems as men – poverty pay, long and anti-social hours, casualisation of labour, exploitation by labour brokers – plus the added problems of danger when, without proper transport, they are dumped on the streets and fall prey to marauding thugs who rape and assault them and rob them of their belongings.
As the country marks its Women’s Month let us remember all the women and children across the country and the world who have been raped, killed and or fallen victims to gender-based violence. The working class has the key role to play to combat violence and crime. COSATU will not rest or celebrate.
South Africa owes much to the marching women of 1956. Let’s pick up their spear the time is now for action to end violence against women and children.
Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Streets
Braamfontein
2017
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct 010 219-1339
Fax: +27 11 339-6940
Mobile: +27 82 821 7456
E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za
- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=9294#sthash.oBOrdsf4.dpuf
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| Demonstration of COSATU workers in South Africa. |
60th anniversary of women’s charter and 20 years in freedom
Together moving non-racial, non-sexist South Africa forward
COSATU statement for National Women’s Day
The Congress of South African Trade Unions joins all South Africans in marking National Women’s Day and commemorating the Historic Women’s March of 9 August 1956, which was a turning point in the history of women’s role in the struggle for freedom for all. We dedicate this day and the whole month of August to recommit ourselves to the struggle for women’s liberation all over the world.
South Africa
August 2014 will mark a number of historic events that serve as proof that women played a role in the struggle to liberate the people of this country, including:
• 60 years after the adoption of the Women’s Charter in 1954
• 20 years after the adoption of the Women’s Charter for Effective Equality in 1994
• 20 years of democracy and freedom in South Africa in 1994
• 19 years after the country signed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and ratified Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1995.
Despite these advances, however, the struggle for women still continues. COSATU is particularly worried about the escalating violence and crime against women and children, including the abduction and shooting of children in the recent past, all of which undermine the strides forward made by women since 1956.
- On 21 July 2014 four-year-old Taegin Morris was dragged to death behind his mother’s car by hijackers in Reiger Park Boksburg as his mother watched helplessly whilst the boy was hanging out of the door of her speeding car.
- On 22 July 2014 in Bronkhorstspruit six-year-old Aaron Phike was abducted for a week after a car hijacking, whilst driving with his father who was badly injured in the incident.
- On 03 August 2014 in Westbury, Johannesburg, a three-year-old boy was shot by a stray bullet and he is now on life support because his injuries left him brain-dead.
The loss of one little life is one life too many. COSATU during this month will not be celebrating but will be mourning the loss of the young ones who lost their lives in the hands of cruel, inhuman criminals.
We call on all the COSATU unions, provinces and members to embark on activities against violence and crime and also to give the families moral support during the Court cases. We also call on law enforcement authorities to make sure that they spare no effort but ensure that violent criminals are put behind bars and justice is served without any bribery or loss of dockets and evidence, and families and the communities of these young ones get answers and justice.
Palestine
Women and children are used as bargaining tools in Gaza, where, since 9 July 2014 Israel has been on a killing spree. Palestinian children and whole families are being wiped out by the Israel artillery attacks. On 12 July 2014 Israel killed four young Palestinian boys innocently playing soccer on the beach, and two disabled Palestinian women were killed in a bomb planted at the centre.
The women workers of COSATU won’t be celebrating this month until the women and children in Palestine are free. During the month of August COSATU will be sensitising our members on the Palestinian struggle so that they can be able to take forward the struggle and be in solidarity with the women and children of Palestine who are killed like flies every day.
We shall be mobilising women behind the campaign of boycott, disinvestment and sanctions against the Israeli regime, urging them to refuse to buy any Israeli goods and to have nothing to do with any companies that trade with Israel and prop up their war machine.
Nigeria
276 girls were kidnapped from the Chibok Government Secondary School on 14 April 2014 by Boko Haram Terrorists in Nigeria. 9th of August marks 117 days since the girls were kidnapped. COSATU calls on all its structures to continue with the campaign to bring back all the girls and unite them with their families.
The campaign has been driven at the national level; we now call all the nine Provinces of COSATU to march, hold rallies, and picket outside the premiers’ offices, Nigerian embassies and consulates in support of the parents of the abducted girls who have been with the terrorists since April.
National Gender Committee
The COSATU National Gender Committee which sat on 6-7 August 2014 adopted strategies to take forward the Women’s Month campaigns. We agreed to join hands with women in all walks of life and make a loud noise to end violence, hijacking and killing of women and children in the country, region, continent and the whole world.
Despite the strides the government has made to pass laws to protect workers, and women there are still huge gaps and no specific legislation addressing maternity protection and benefits. The current legislation excludes vulnerable categories of women workers, whose labour rights have been violated in the workplace on the basis of their reproductive role as mothers.
COSATU believes that maternity protection and benefits are fundamental human rights and key to the decent work and gender equality agenda in the world of work. Working women play an important role in the economy of the country and therefore they should enjoy maternity protection and benefits in line with the national and international standards.
Therefore August will see the launch of a campaign to ensure that government ratifies the ILO Maternity Protection Convention 183 and its recommendation R191. Part of the campaign will be to urge the COSATU negotiators at NEDLAC to resuscitate the debate on ratification of this important international standard for women. We shall also to ensure that the benefits of women who are currently enjoying maternity benefits are not watered down.
The federation urgently calls on employers to put provisions in place to create supportive environment for pregnant and nursing women.
COSATU during August will also be raising awareness among workers - especially in vulnerable categories - about existing maternity rights, legislative provisions and the protection available to challenge non-compliance by employers.
The campaign will be ongoing. We will be requesting the unions and shop stewards in the workplaces to identify non-compliance with the laws and practices that are undermining the national and international standards on maternity rights. Those employees will be named and shamed by the whole labour movement.
The federation also condemns the racist and sexist disrespect shown to black working-class women recently by the students at the University of Pretoria who posed as domestic workers.
On top of all this women at work face all the same problems as men – poverty pay, long and anti-social hours, casualisation of labour, exploitation by labour brokers – plus the added problems of danger when, without proper transport, they are dumped on the streets and fall prey to marauding thugs who rape and assault them and rob them of their belongings.
As the country marks its Women’s Month let us remember all the women and children across the country and the world who have been raped, killed and or fallen victims to gender-based violence. The working class has the key role to play to combat violence and crime. COSATU will not rest or celebrate.
South Africa owes much to the marching women of 1956. Let’s pick up their spear the time is now for action to end violence against women and children.
Patrick Craven (National Spokesperson)
Congress of South African Trade Unions
110 Jorissen Cnr Simmonds Streets
Braamfontein
2017
Tel: +27 11 339-4911 Direct 010 219-1339
Fax: +27 11 339-6940
Mobile: +27 82 821 7456
E-Mail: patrick@cosatu.org.za
- See more at: http://www.cosatu.org.za/show.php?ID=9294#sthash.oBOrdsf4.dpuf
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