National Women's Day (South Africa)
On the anniversary of the Women's March on August 9, 1956, in which around 20,000 women protested against the Apartheid Passport Act in the capital Pretoria, South Africa celebrates its National Women's Day (Worldday 2020).
The protest action was preceded by a multi-year campaign against the passport laws. Under the Passport Act, Black people were forced to carry identification documents so that security forces could monitor their activities and enforce apartheid - i.e. organized racial segregation. These identity documents contained, among other things, professional and private information and enabled constant surveillance and control of black people (Africa.com 2016).
The first use of pass documents took place in the early 1800s and emerged from the identity documents for enslaved people introduced in 1709. After the abolition of slavery in 1808, more local workers were employed. Employers forced them to carry a permit document with them. This permit allowed the workers to leave the farm on which they were working. This was followed by the introduction of passports for various population groups: for Europeans, in the Orange Free State, in the Zuid-Afrikaansce Republiek, on the diamond and gold mines, in the Union of South Africa and in the later Republic (AfricanSouthHistoryOnline 2019).
The first resistance to the Pass Laws began in 1910. In 1912, 5,000 women from the Orange Free State signed a petition against the Pass Laws, which was ignored by the Minister at the time. In May 1913, the activists changed their strategy to a more aggressive anti-pass campaign. Many people involved in this campaign refused to carry passports and were arrested as a result.
In the 1950s, a second major wave of protests against the passport laws began, one of the highlights of which was the Women's March on August 9, 1956. The concrete trigger for the action was the announcement that the issuing of passports for all Black women would begin in January 1956. The 1956 Women's March was led by political activists such as Helen Joseph, Albertina Sisulu, Rahima Moosa, Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Suzman, Ruth First, Charlotte Maxeke, Sophie Williams-De Bruyn, Florence Matomela and Bertha Gxowa (Mashaba). Most of them were part of the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) (Africa.com 2016). Among other things, they campaigned for the right to vote for all, for equality between men and women and for peace around the world. The destination of the women's march was the Union Buildings, where a petition against a planned tightening of the law was to be presented to the then Prime Minister J. G. Strijdom. Around 20,000 women stood silently in front of the Union Buildings for 30 minutes and then sang a protest song written for the occasion:
Wathint' abafazi, wathint' imbokodo! Uzokufa!
(English: "you strike a woman, you strike a rock")
The Women's March is considered a historic day and has been celebrated as National Women's Day in South Africa since the end of apartheid and the repeal of the Pass Laws in 1994 (Africa.com 2016).
Last updated: August 2025
Sources (in German)
- Africa.com (2016): Remembering South Africa's Struggle Heroines on Women's Day. Last accessed 26.07.2021.
- AfricanSouthHistoryOnline (2019): Pass laws in South Africa 1800-1994. last accessed 03.08.2021.
- Worldday (2020): 9. August regional: Women’s Day in Südafrika. Africa. Last accessed 26.07.2021.