I am a woman and a proud one at that!

National Women’s Day is a South African public holiday celebrated annually on August 9.

The day commemorates the 1956 march of approximately 20 000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country’s pass laws.

Emma da Silva, originally from Boksburg but now a Farrarmere resident, was the first female chairperson to be inducted at Benoni Northerns and with Women’s Day around the corner, it felt only right to commemorate this historical achievement.

“It has been an honour to be the first female chairperson at BNSC. I feel privileged to have been given the opportunity,” she said.

“I don’t feel that it was a long process reaching this achievement being a woman as I am a firm believer in ensuring that you have a full understanding of the requirements needed for a position before taking on different roles within an organisation, the history is just as important as the current day events.

“Following a progressive plan has been beneficial to me, and I support it fully.”
Da Silva works as an executive in operations and commercials as her day-to-day job while being the chairperson of Northerns as her second job and hobby.

“I started running with Northerns in 2009 to undertake my first comrades in 2010,” she said.

“I joined the athletics section committee in 2011 and was then appointed as the vice-chair for athletics in 2012 to 2013 and was the chairperson from 2013 to 2014.

“Thereafter, I took a break and re-joined the main executive committee in 2016 where I served as a member of the executive committee. Thereafter, I was encouraged to stand for nomination as vice-chair in 2018 before making it as chairperson of Benoni Northerns today.

“While the previous chairperson was still in power, we engaged in discussions and looked to ensure continuity within the committee.

“I volunteered to take over when he was ready to step down and was then nominated by Dr Craig Wittstock, the current president of the club, and my nomination was seconded by other members within the club. The rest is history.”

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Da Silva is also the chairperson of the Airline Operators Association committee. She is learning to play the piano and is also a hardworking mother.

“I fit Airline Operators within my work as it is directly related to my job,” she said.

“I have served as the chair for just over 10 years, and I am super passionate about aviation and sports, so I essentially have the best of both worlds.

“I am a mom. I have two girls aged seven and nine and my partner has two boys, who are 10 and eight, so it makes for busy weekends.

Working an eight-to-five job, being a chairperson for two different organisations and having a Brady Bunch family, da Silva always finds the time to do the things she loves, even with the busy schedule. She enjoys having a stand-out trait of a woman.

“I love the ability to multi-task,” she said.

“I work a normal eight-to-five job; however, even that is not normal.

“I work within aviation, and aviation does not keep ‘normal’ hours. A typical day will start with the gym or run at 5:00, head home for the school run, then I head off to work, fetch children from school, help with homework and prepare dinner.

“The club meetings take place outside of working hours (normally), so we start at around 19:00.

“It does depend on what is on. Sometimes, I have no meetings and sometimes I may be at the club two to three times a week.

“Last year, I committed to learning the piano, one of those childhood dreams that I have started to make a reality.

“I attend piano lessons every week, learning both theory and the practical aspect of the piano, which has been exceptionally interesting to me. I envy any person who can play a musical instrument.”

When it comes to oppression that has been endured by women for centuries, she said, “I don’t believe men and women currently have equal rights.

“This stems back in time, but I believe we are making strides to correct any inequalities that are still in place. I think this is both in terms of sports and business, a road needs to be travelled and it is a journey that will continue as we progress.”

Da Silva plays a big role at Northerns within her duties and hasn’t felt at all like she has been treated differently because she is a woman. She does, however, agree that men and women should have equal rights.

“I am a firm believer that if it is good for one it is good for all. I don’t think this just applies to men and women but generally within our society. A person should not be offered rights at the expense of another person,” she concluded.

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