'Not Just Pro-Women But Pro-Progress'

South Africa’s Minister of Women Susan Shabangu on the significance of the 61st anniversary of Women’s Day, and the role men can play in ending gender violence in South Africa and creating an equal society.

- Methil Renuka

IT’S A CHANCE MEETING IN JUNE WITH SUSAN Shabangu, South Africa’s Minister of Women in the Presidency, at the CNBC Africa studios in the Johan-nesburg Stock Exchange, when Shabangu sits down for a brief interview to share her views ahead of the SheEO SleepOut on August 8.

Held on the eve of Women’s Day (commemorating the 1956 Women’s March to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest pass laws), at the SheEO Sleep Out, female CEOs and business leaders spend a night sleeping outdoors at the Union Buildings, in aid of homeless and vulnerable communities and to raise funds for Door of Hope, an NGO that works to care for abandoned babies.

Excerpts from the interview:

What is the significance of Women’s Month this year?

We have agreed with the SheEOs to come on board and participate during August. It also shows women are continuing with their struggle. Because it’s one aspect of their struggles fought by women in making sure children are not abandoned and that is what is clear about the SheEO Sleep Out.

The women of 1956 wrote the Women’s Charter, which talks about their values and the issue of education for children, and all those issues were part of the demands we take for-granted today.

And by that, they recognize there were gaps in the struggle and the only way to succeed was to make sure issues affecting women and children are taken on board.