Municipality celebrates women in the workplace
On Thursday, 26 August 2021, the J.B. Marks Disaster Management Centre: Risk Reduction unit conducted and coordinated a three-hour event in honour of celebrating women in the workplace.
On Thursday, 26 August 2021, the J.B. Marks Disaster Management Centre: Risk Reduction unit conducted and coordinated a three-hour event in honour of celebrating women in the workplace.
Every year, in August, South Africa celebrates Women’s Month, in honour of more than 20,000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 to protest the extension of pass laws to women.
“Women’s Month allows us to gauge how far we have come in transforming women in disaster management and law enforcement, particularly the transformation of unequal power relations between women and men,” Ms Tsholofelo Moumakwa, the acting head of the Disaster Management Centre, said.
“At the same time, we should also focus on and address gender oppression, patriarchy, sexism, racism, ageism and structural oppression. We should create an environment that is conducive to women taking control of their lives,” she added.
This year’s celebration was held under the theme: “The year of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke: Realising Women’s Rights.”
Ensuring and protecting those rights have been a constant struggle for government and social partners as the world faces the devastating Covid-19 pandemic.
“The event discussed topics like gender-based violence, how we should conduct ourselves in the workplace and how to manage conflict at work,” Ms Moumakwa said. “These specific topics aimed to uplift women and give them something to look forward to in the workplace.”
