Ilitha Labantu celebrated 30 years of advocacy in gender activism on February 11.
Alderman Patricia Kumalo, former Minister of Women in the Presidency Bathabile Dlamini, Cosatu president Zingisa Losi and Cape peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) director Nonkosi Tylowana were present at the occasion themed Participation, Accountability and Gender-Responsive Institution: Gender Equality for Local Governance Transformation.
Kumalo said: “We are a developing metro, but we also recognise that our work is not complete if our vulnerable groups (women and children) remain exposed and unprotected.”
She highlighted that the representation of women have grown in the Ekurhuleni Council and drew on the example of the appointment of the first female city manager, Imogen Mashazi, as well as how gender is well-represented in both the mayoral committee and in the Section 79 Oversight and Standing committees.
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“The female voice must come out in these public meetings so that women as an affected group can put forward issues that male counterparts may not even be familiar with or might not even have an interest in providing solutions for because it doesn’t affect them,” said Kumalo.
Dlamini said: “We need to stop holding young women back by pinning their experiences to “our time” as older women. Technology is at its peak and we can’t continually take young women away from their lived experiences.”
