SACP Statement for National Women's Day 09 August 2001
 Mobilise Women to Build a People's Economy and Transform gender Relations

08 August 2001

The South African Communist Party (SACP) joins millions of South African women and men in celebrating National Women's Day on 09 August.

This year's celebration follows the very successful National Gender Summit which was hosted by the Commission on Gender Equality. The Summit provided a platform for a collective reflection on gains made by South African women over the past few years. At the same time, the Time-Use report released by Statistics South Africa reveals that:

• South African women are the worst affected by joblessness and retrenchments
• African women in particular are still oppressed by unpaid labour in the family and community. The survey found that even when restricting the analysis to employed persons, women spent on average three times as many minutes in the day (210 minutes) than men (82 minutes) on unpaid work.
• South African women occupy the worst and most exploitative jobs at extremely low wages

In other words, despite massive gains made by South African women over the last 7 years, we are also witnessing deepening gender inequalities underpinned by the legacy of apartheid and the reality of capitalism in our country. It is only middle class and better educated women who have made the most gains. Welcome as this is, unless we address and advance issues affecting ordinary working class, rural, peri-urban and poor women these gains remain meaningless and we will not be able to make meaningful progress towards the transformation of gender relations in society.

It is clear that the engine of the capitalist South African economy remains black working class, rural, peri-urban and poor women. For the SACP, the challenge therefore is to harness their energy for their own benefit as part of a broader reconstruction and development programme as opposed to this exploitative capitalist system which condemns the majority of South African women to be victims of poverty, unpaid labour, low wages, unemployment and exploitative working conditions.

We therefore call on women to take an active and leading part in struggles to build a people's economy which must be geared towards the transformation of gender relations in society. This includes current struggles for job creation and the restructuring of the financial sector which continues to blacklist and deny credit to many women and projects which would address the conditions of living of women. Without serious attention, by government and other stakeholders, to job creation and the restructuring of the financial sector, many women will continue to suffer and live in misery. For its part, the SACP commits itself to work towards the practical socialisation of unpaid labour.

Most importantly is the building of a progressive women's movement. A working class led and progressive women's movement is key to advancing the interests of South African women and broader societal transformation. We dedicate ourselves to be part of building this working class led women's movement.

CONTACT
Mazibuko Kanyiso Jara (surname Jara)
Department of Media, Information and Publicity
South African Communist Party
Tel - 011 339-3621/2
Fax - 011 339-4244
Cell - 083 651 0271
Email - sacp1@wn.apc.org