Sekhukhune women celebrated

MARBLE HALL – In the advancement of women emancipation in Sekhukhune, the district municipality hosted its International Women’s Day commemoration at the Marble Hall Civic Hall within the Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality on Tuesday.

The International Women’s Day is observed globally on 08 March annually with the aim to address challenges women face and the achievements attained in their emancipation efforts.

Women from all walks of life in the district together with councilors, women rights groups and Sekhukhune District Municipality (SDM) Executive Committee (Exco) members partook in the commemoration.

On behalf of the Executive Mayor, Yvonne Mmakola, SDM Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Special Projects, said the district municipality not only celebrated women but called upon girl children to attend school and get education.

Identified pupils from various schools in the district were handed over sanitary towels during the commemoration.

Mmakola said one of the efforts the district was making is to ensure a maximized roll-out programme for sanitary towels for girl learners, not only in most rural but all schools in the district.

Mmakola worried that girl-children not affording sanitary towels were faced with a huge challenge whereby they were forced to stay away from school during their menstruation period.

“If we calculate the number of days that some girl children miss classes during menstruation, we all will see the need to help. They miss about five days a month and that adds up to a lot of days in an academic year,” worried Mmakola.

Mmakola further said the emancipation of women and their inclusion in economy in the district was dependent on their full capacitation.

Rendani Tshikungulu, a representative from Office of Women Status (OWS) in the Premier’s Office, called on women to empower themselves through acquiring more information to be able to help one another.

Tshikungulu further said there was a need for women to stand up for themselves in the fight against gender based violence, inequality and the HIV/Aids pandemic.

Refiole Rabalao and Desiree Matlala, young women rights activists, appealed to young women to build self confidence among themselves, support one another and further challenged government to ensure the fight against triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality is won to emancipate women