THE ANCWL ON ANC POLICY DOCUMENTS DISCUSSIONS

The African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) as an integral part of the African National Congress (ANC) and has major role to play in the body politics of the ANC to advance the interest of women as equal citizens in South Africa (SA).

With active participation of women in the struggle against apartheid, the ANC attained political freedom in 1994, however economic freedom is still lacking behind. Notwithstanding the achievements by tye ANC and its government, women in SA, black women in particular are still faced with various challenges which include:

–  Patriarchy;

–  Sexual abuse;

–  Gender disparity pays at workplaces;

–  Landlessness and economic marginalisation.

For any democracy to be sustainable, the majority of the population must participate in the economic activities  and be key players in the policy fomulating bodies of the public and private sector in the country. Women are the majority in SA and the need to accelerate the socio-economic transformation to liberate women from the bondage of inequality, unemployment and poverty should not be tolerated and should not be treated with soft gloves by the citizen.

It is against this background that the ANCWL will hold forums across the country to discuss the ANC policy documents. The ANCWL is of the view that policy positions of the ANC must be biased towards the majority of population which are women.

Women across all sectors of the society are invited to take part in the ANCWL forums to contribute towards ANC policy documents. It is only through the unity and cohesion of women, that the total liberation of women will be realised. Women must be at the forefront of radical socio-economic transformation.