women’s day south Africa

On 9 August 1956, 20 000 voices cried out: "You strike a woman, you strike a rock". South Africa's women had spoken, saying they were neither meek nor mild, but the bedrock on which their communities were founded, and they would not let their freedoms be trespassed upon.

Recognising that women's rights were fundamental to South Africa's success as a newly liberated nation, Nelson Mandela enshrined these rights in the country's world-leading Constitution. It followed a long and rich history of activism from women demanding equal rights and gender parity.