14 October 2009
In commemoration of the International Day of Rural Women tomorrow, 15October 2009, African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) pays tribute
to the tireless efforts of rural women in South Africa and across the African continent for their contribution to the rural economy and rural development.
The ANCWL considers empowering and improving the lives of rural women a central pillar in the war against unemployment, poverty, inequality and
marginalisation.
While considering that over the past fifteen years our nation has made formidable progress in advancing the condition and needs of women in certain
areas, the ANCWL is concerned about the conditions of rural women in our country.
Rural women remain mostly disadvantaged. They still suffer from the absence of timely and adequate medical care and lack of access to information to
improve their health and well-being. They remain vulnerable to poverty and unemployment.
The participation of rural women in the formal or mainstream economy is still acutely inadequate. While women work the land, they often do not hold
formal and clear land title ownership. A lack of rights over land makes women extremely vulnerable to eviction and loss of income during the death
of their husbands.
The ANCWL is concerned that despite a wide range of legalisation to protect women from violence and gender discrimination, rural women, particularly
girls are still largely exposed to cultural marginilisation and discrimination, sexual violence, forced marriages and prostitution.
The conditions of rural women underline the need for an effective rural development programmes that prioritise rural women by ensuring that they
benefit from investment in economic development, infrastructure, and access to government services, as well as training and education.
While women represent a significant proportion of the farm labour force and subsistence food producers they have been the last to benefit from economic
and development transformation.
The legacy of apartheid has a legacy of lack of access to basic services such as water, energy and sanitation, and being without capacity to access
to developmental opportunities. In rural areas there is a severe shortage of hospitals and medical care facilities especially for women. There is also a
severe shortage of proper infrastructure such as roads, transportation and electricity. The lack of these basic services increases the burden of labour
for rural women.
Thus on this day, the ANCWL reaffirms its commitment to remain in the forefront of the struggle to address and improve the conditions of rural
women in our country. For as long as rural women have no access to adequate healthcare, die from curable, manageable and preventable diseases such as
breast cancer, TB, malaria, HIV and AIDS, and suffer from lack of education, discrimination in property and land ownership, sexual abuse, cultural
marginalisation and discrimination, the struggle for women emancipation in our country remains incomplete.
The ANCWL remains steadfastly committed to a comprehensive rural development strategy linked to agrarian reform, which builds the potential for rural
sustainable livelihoods, particularly for African women.
The International Day of Rural Women was established by the General Assembly of the United Nations to pay tribute and recognise the critical role and
contribution of rural women in eradicating rural poverty through food production and food security.
The International Day of Rural Women also directs our attention to both the contribution that women make in rural areas and the many challenges that
they still face in our country.
We call on government, particularly the provincial and local sphere of government to ensure that economic development and social advancement in the
rural areas goes beyond land and agrarian reform and that it includes strategies to develop appropriate industries including light manufacturing, handicrafts, services, tourism, telecommunications services, roads and rail.
We will continue to engage government to ensure that social security programmes and land reform initiatives prioritise rural women.
Working together we can do more to fight rural poverty and ensure that rural women enjoy a better life.
Malibongwe! Igama lamakhosikazi!
Issued by:
Nosipho Dorothy Ntwanambi
Deputy President of the ANCWL
African National Congress
For enquiries contact:
Vuyi Manyandela
Cell: 082 331 2452
E-mail: vuyim@anc.org.za