To appreciate the type of demands made by women in South Africa, the context needs to be properly understood. We are waging a struggle different from that in the United States and Western Europe. Ours is for national liberation and the type of demands found in the Freedom Charter reflect this.

The vote is denied to black South Africans. That is so basic a right that it is taken for granted by Western European and United States feminists. Without the vote we do not control our own country, let alone have rights as women. That is why many of our demands are ones for which we struggle shoulder to shoulder with our menfolk.

Since the 1913 women's march to the Bloemfontein Administration Block against the Land Act, women have waged a number of campaigns. Growing maturity and consolidation led to the formation of the Federation of South African Women (Fedsaw) in 1954 and the adoption of its Women's Charter. In the forefront of this development were famous women's leaders like Lilian Ngoyi, Elizabeth Mafekeng, Albertina Sisulu and Helen Joseph. Many of the demands of the Women's Charter and a separate document, The women's demands for the Freedom Charter, were ultimately incorporated in the Freedom Charter.

The demands of the Freedom Charter have not yet been met. Regarding the demand for “equal pay for equal work”, women are still paid meagre wages and are still discriminated against at work. In a time of recession, such as we experience now, women are the first to be dismissed. “Full opportunity for employment” remains our demand.

“There shall be housing, security and comfort for all”: Women all over South Africa are still staying in shacks, still squatting as is the case in Crossroads and Tsakane. Women and their families are still being forcibly removed from their home, as has happened recently at Magopa, Driefontein and KwaNgema.