SAHA commemorates National Women's Day

As the nation celebrates National Women's Day, SAHA developed a virtual exhibition, ‘Women hold up half the sky - commemorating women in the struggle', which explores women's struggles and contribution in the fight against apartheid.

Artefacts pulled from the rich SAHA archives resource chronicle women's resistance stories leading up to the historic 1956 women's march against the oppressive pass laws.

Living in a society deeply rooted in patriarchal value systems, the women of those days were faced with many complex challenges from their very own homes (husbands) to employers and the state.

All protocol measures were designed to sideline and undermine women's rights and strength. The notion of a women's place being at home was a generally accepted principle. But the women rose above that and proved to the nation and the world that their strength is a force to be reckoned with.

The women's virtual exhibition developed by SAHA will provide a lens into those struggles and the women's journey to the "new" South Africa of today where gender-based discrimination is outlawed.

As the nation celebrates National Women's Day, SAHA would like to remind the nation of the sacrifices our women heroines made leading to this very significant day in the nations' history.

The 20 000 women who marched on 9 August, 1956 to the Union Buildings in Pretoria changed the course of history and played a crucial role in the fight against unjust apartheid laws. ‘Malibongwe igama lamakhosikazi!' - let the women's name be honoured!

The virtual exhibition is run along a physical exhibition staged at Johannesburg's Constitution Hill in Braamfontein. It will run for the entire month of August and the public is hereby encouraged to visit it.

Read more about the exhibition at Constitution Hill and about how you could loan the exhibition kit.