Celebrating South Africa’s Women’s Month

August 27, 2021 

Closing out the month of August, we’re highlighting organizations from our network that use sports to address women’s equality in recognition of South Africa’s Women’s Month. The Government of South Africa declared August Women’s Month to celebrate the strength and resilience of women and their contribution to society and their country. 

Women's Month pays tribute to the more than 20,000 South African women who marched to the Union Buildings on August 9, 1956 to protest the extension of Pass Laws to women. The march was organized by the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW), who famously challenged the common view in Africa that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, arguing that a woman’s place is everywhere. 

According to Stats SA, female workers earn approximately 30 percent less on average than male workers in South Africa. In addition, in 2020 and 2021, more than four in every ten young females were not in employment, education or training. Join us in recognising the organisations below, who are closing gender equity and equality gaps through sport.

FOOTBALL WITHOUT BORDERS 

Football Without Borders entered the Sport for Gender Equality Award in 2019 for their Lezintombiziyakhona program. The empowerment program supports girls with sports leadership and sexual reproductive health and rights education. The goal of the program is to create a world where girls and women are valued as equals and have control over their sexuality and economic development.

The organisation states that it uses football as the core vehicle because it is the most popular sport in the world and it is easy to use to spread messages and attract the youth. "At the end of the day, we not only aim to produce capable sports persons, but also future leaders that are able to provide solutions to improve their respective communities."

SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN AND SPORT FOUNDATION

The South African Women and Sport Foundation (SAWASF) were entrants to the Sport for Gender Equality Collective Impact Award in 2020. The Foundation is driving women leaders through sport with a vision for South African women to be recognised and rewarded on equal terms with men in sport. They want to develop a culture where all girls and women have equal opportunities. SAWASF run coaching and mentoring programmes, and provide resources, research and capacity building to facilitate women and girls who are being trained for leadership roles in sport.

SAWASF is focused on advocacy and creating awareness on issues that promote and hinder the active participation of women and girls in all areas of involvement and participation in sport, including as athletes, coaches, administrators, managers and officiants. 

GRASSROOTS SOCCER SOUTH AFRICA

Grassroot Soccer (GRS), whose flagship site is in South Africa, uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire and mobilise youth to overcome their greatest health challenges and be agents for change in their communities. They entered the 2020 Sport for Gender Equality Collective Impact Award for their project, ‘Grassroot Soccer SKILLZ Up for Gender Equality’. This program addresses negative gender norms, works to decrease gender-based violence and aims to end the statistical realities that, by the age of 16, 70% of girls see violence in relationships as acceptable and that they arere four times more likely to contract HIV than men. 

GRS South Africa affiliate sites also have a particularly strong record of promoting girls’ and women’s participation in organised football. Two women’s club teams, RV United in Khayelitsha and the Blue Birds in Alexandra, are linked to GRS, and have become part of the fabric of these communities. Both of these teams play in the SAFA SASOL league, the highest women’s league in South Africa.