Equal opportunities the aim of protest

The Women of South Africa’s (Wosa) Polokwane branch staged a picket outside the offices of Limpopo Economic Development Agency (Leda) in an effort to encourage the agency to open up economic activity aimed at benefitting women.
Wosa is a movement founded on the principles of substantive gender equality and equity.
It is a network of women’s organisations, social justice NGOs, gender activists and women’s professional organisations.
Wosa Limpopo coordinator, Tebogo Mamrobela says they acknowledge that women will not achieve full power while economic inequality remains.
The movement believes that gender equality is a constitutional prerogative and corporate South Africa can play an important role in transforming society.
According to Mamrobela, the current market structure that defines the South African economy is wired to perpetuate inequality against women. “If we do not challenge the men who uphold this system, the economy will not be transformed and levels of poverty, unemployment racism and sexism persist unabated.”
She says the exclusion of women in economic activity has an impact on gender-based violence and if corrected might be able to assist in curbing what she referred to as the ‘second pandemic’.
She believes that if women can be empowered they would be able to walk away from abusive relationships, and report these crimes because they would not fear being without a man.
“Women must occupy strategic positions, even in government departments and entities. We want to see as many, if not more female chairpersons in all government entities and then we can be satisfied.”
In a memorandum accepted by Leda Chief Operations Officer, Ntsewa Mokobane, the organisation demanded a five-year gender strategy to accelerate the economic inclusion of South African women be developed by incorporating gender-based violence and femicide into the National Strategic Plan (NSP).
This will assist to increase women’s access to finance and markets, accelerate job creation for women through funding and investment in women entrepreneurs while increasing women’s access to social services through investment in infrastructure projects that are gender-based.
Mokobane says Leda will respond by the set date of 28 February 2021.