Happy Womxn’s Month to our South African readers! South Africa celebrates Womxn’s Month in August as a tribute to the over 20,000 brave womxn who marched to the Union Buildings on the 9th of August 1956 in Pretoria, South Africa to protest the introduction of the apartheid pass laws for Black womxn. The pass laws required all Black South Africans to carry an internal passport that upheld segregation laws, controlled urbanization and managed migrant labour during the apartheid regime.
The organization, “Federation of South African Women”, was an anti-apartheid group aimed at strengthening the voices of womxn. Led by Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Albertina Sisulu and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn, over 20,000 womxn stormed the office of then Prime Minister Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom and left 14,000 petitions at his office door. Demonstrating, yet again, that when womxn want to get shit done, they do it effectively.
To celebrate, team FEMME MAG put together some content spotlighting the literature, music and womxn in South Africa who continue to push boundaries in their respective fields.
Looking for something to new to read? Why not pick up a book from Miriam Tlali, the first Black South African womxn to publish a book in English or 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the Best First Book in the African region winner Cynthia Jele’s Happiness Is A Four Letter Word?
When you’re done filling up your cart, have a listen to our first instalment of “FEMME MAG Listens”, curated specially by the sonically gifted Toke Ariyo that’s guaranteed to get you on your feet vibing to the soulful sounds of the female power players dominating the music scene.
And when you can’t move your body any longer, settle into bed and read these two interviews from Thoko Dlamini and Zulaikah Patel chronicling their sentiments about Womxn’s Month and their hopes for the future.
