As South Africa celebrates Women’s Day tomorrow, Saturday 09 August 2025, Build One South Africa (BOSA) will use this opportunity to put forward concrete interventions to advance the safety and economic empowerment of women in our country.
We believe this approach rises above empty gestures and platitudes, and instead focuses on real, actionable solutions that can improve the daily lives and long-term prospects of every South African woman.
Almost seventy years after the historic 1956 Women’s March, South African women are still fighting for material equity in the economy, for bona-fide power in public leadership, and for recognition of the leadership roles they already occupy in society.
Discrimination persists. In the economy, where access to opportunity remains limited. In politics, where genuine representation and power are still rare and hard-won. And in society, where their leadership is too often overlooked or undervalued.
On Women’s Day tomorrow, while some are pampered for public display, the majority are the face of poverty. The truth is, while women are not forced to carry a pass anymore, varying degrees of prejudice persist.
The intersecting nature of this oppression – economic, social, cultural, and political – requires a comprehensive approach to bring about change.
Let us not turn a blind eye and instead confront the plight of women head-on through the hard facts and numbers that lay bare the depth of the inequality they endure.
In the first three months of this year, 10 688 women were raped, 1,485 attempted murders of women were reported, 969 women were killed, and over 15,000 women were assaulted.
SA averages 40 000 rapes a year, and the rate at which women are killed by intimate partners in SA is five times higher than the global average.
90 037 girls aged 10 to 19 years gave birth from March 2021 to April 2022. Approximately 30% of teenagers in South Africa report having been pregnant, the majority unplanned.
188 teenage girls under the age of 18 were married off in 2021. And the majority of SA homes are female headed, with 41% of children living with single mothers.
On the economic front, the national unemployment rate for women stands at 37.3%, while for young people under the age of 35, it exceeds 45%. This is despite the fact that women make up over 50% of the population and account for 43% of the labour force. Yet, according to the BWA Women in Leadership Census, women occupy only around 20% of executive roles and less than 10% of CEO positions in JSE-listed companies.
More than a year into the Government of National Unity, nothing has changed for women, youth, and persons with disabilities. The department meant to champion their rights has become a hollow shell, sidelining real action and shielding the rest of government from accountability.
BOSA’s Proposed Interventions
Fair Pay Bill: Ending discrimination in the workplace
As part of our sustained commitment to economic justice and workplace equity, BOSA has introduced the Fair Pay Bill in Parliament. This is a proposed new national law designed to tackle unjust wage disparities and discriminatory hiring practices across the labour market.
The Fair Pay Bill is a game-changer for women in the workforce. It tackles the structural discrimination that keeps women underpaid, overlooked, and shut out of opportunity. The Bill will:
- Close the gender pay gap by requiring companies to disclose and justify pay differences between men and women.
- Ban unfair hiring criteria that exclude women.
- Force salary transparency so women know what jobs really pay and can fight for equal pay for equal work.
Women make up half the population yet are still earning less, working in lower-paying jobs, and too often denied advancement. The Fair Pay Bill seeks to address that injustice head on.
Women leading women: National engagement campaign with Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster
Throughout Women’s Month this August, BOSA Deputy Leader Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster will embark on a national women’s engagement campaign to connect directly with women across South Africa.
Through focused dialogues with women in business, entrepreneurship, faith-based organisations, and civil society, this campaign will:
- Listen to the lived experiences of women,
- Surface the real challenges they face in their daily and professional lives, and
- Encourage women to take up space in public service, politics, and leadership.
Women make up the majority of South Africa’s population, yet remain underrepresented where key decisions are made. This campaign is about changing that, by equipping, inspiring, and calling on women to run for office, represent their communities, and help shape a more just and inclusive society.
Engaging the Commission for Gender Equality
We will formally engage the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) to propose impactful and measurable interventions aimed at lifting women out of poverty and empowering them within the workforce and economy.
The CGE has extensive constitutional powers under Act 39 of 1996, which enables it to monitor the practices of organs of state, public and private institutions, and statutory bodies.
However, the CGE has not fully delivered on its mandate. We aim to both support and push the Commission to be more proactive and impactful in its work, particularly in addressing the economic exclusion of the 5.5 million unemployed women in South Africa.
Making the Sex Offenders Register Public
BOSA has long called for the National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO) to be made fully public and accessible. Nearly 20,000 South Africans have backed our petition demanding this critical change. In January, the Minister of Justice committed to doing so, only to later reverse course and chose to protect the identities of convicted sex offenders over the safety of potential future victims.
Our parliamentary work has revealed that the NRSO is dangerously underused. Not a single Cabinet minister or civil servant has been screened, over 93% of school staff haven’t been checked, and just 245 out of 180,000 police officers have undergone vetting. Making matters worse, accessing the register has many exceptions and loopholes. One can only check if an individual is on it by following a cumbersome process that currently costs R150 and requires a six-week wait.
BOSA has filed a Promotion of Access to Information (PAIA) request for access to the NRSO and is in the process of drafting legislation to mandate full public access to the Register. The NRSO should be a tool for prevention and protection, not a secretive ledger hidden away in bureaucratic red tape.
Establishment of dedicated anti-GBV Task Forces in all provinces
We will be writing to all nine provincial premiers calling for the urgent establishment of dedicated anti-Gender-Based Violence (GBV) task forces.
Despite the rise in GBV cases, many are withdrawn due to delays in court processes, backlogs in DNA testing, and an overall lack of trust in the justice system that spans from SAPS to the NPA.
The mandate and powers of these task forces would be to rebuild trust in crime fighting institutions, fast-track case resolution, provide victim support, and ensure swift and fair justice.
Conclusion
In a country where – as was the case in 1956 – women still bear the brunt of spatial injustice, economic deprivation, and social instability, we need to remember the unifying force of the women of 1956 who dared to rise above their circumstances.
On Women’s Day this Friday, BOSA will stand with those who are already taking political power, building equity, and sitting at the tables where the political and economic futures of their country are being discussed. Our role is to open the doors for more women to do the same.
Media Enquiries:
Roger Solomons – BOSA Spokesperson – 072 299 3551