In 2025, National Women’s Day in South Africa will be celebrated on Saturday, August 9th, as part of Women’s Month.
The theme for this year’s Women’s Month is “Building Resilient Economies for All”. The day commemorates the 1956 women’s march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria, where over 20,000 women protested against the pass laws.
During Women’s Month we celebrate women as active agents of change and social transformation. The commemoration also allows us to take stock of achievements and the challenges that remain while mobilising support for the further development of women.
National Women’s Day draws attention to significant issues African women still face, such as parenting, domestic violence, sexual harassment in the workplace, unequal pay, and schooling for all girls. It can be used as a day to fight for or protest these ideas.[8] Due to this public holiday, there have been many significant advances. Before 1994, women had low representation in the Parliament, only at 2.7%. Women in the national assembly were at 27.7%. This number has nearly doubled, being at 48% representation throughout the country’s government.[9] National Women’s Day is based around much of the same principles as International Women’s Day, and strives for much of the same freedoms and rights
