Nontando Aina | image supplied

However, while apartheid’s policies are no longer our primary opposing force, there are still battles to fight. Women are persistently undermined by gender stereotypes and patriarchal norms.

We face educational, social and economic barriers to entry and success. We’re more likely to perform unpaid work and are underrepresented in positions of leadership. And the scourge of domestic violence, sexual violence and femicide seems to be getting worse, not better.

As we look to the past and the achievements made to date, it’s equally important that we interrogate the present and endeavour to create an even better future. A critical part of this work, I believe, is education.

The past: The women who inspire us

Winnie Madikizela Mandela has always been an inspiration for me. While I am aware that there are polarising opinions of her legacy, I have long been impressed by her journey, from humble beginnings, to becoming one of the most prominent social and political figures in South Africa’s history.

A woman and mother, a fearless leader, and a fighter for the poor and marginalised, she promoted courage, hope and change during the country’s darkest days. Her words and actions influenced several generations of female leaders and continue to guide those striving for peace and prosperity today.

Winnie Mandela was also passionate about education — and about the education of women in particular. She believed education was essential for women’s empowerment and liberation, and that educated women were better equipped to lead and uplift their communities.

This philosophy guides me in my work in the education space, reminding me of my commitment to exceed expectations, deliver on my promises, and care about the people I serve — just as Winnie Mandela did. Looking to the past helps us remember the most important traits we need to carry into the present.

The present: Putting education first

In South Africa today, girls are more likely to drop out of school than boys because there is not enough money for school fees or due to family commitments.

Among adults, illiteracy rates are higher for women than they are for men, which affects their ability to further their studies and access employment. This makes it harder to break traditional gender roles, cycles of poverty, and broader systems of inequality.

In rectifying legacy issues and striving to correct more recent injustices that have emerged, we have to put education first.

We must identify the challenges that girls and women face in accessing — and sustaining — an education and put meaningful interventions in place to address them long-term.

We need to adopt a view of education that goes beyond childhood and adolescence and into adulthood. There are still options for adult women who didn’t complete a matric, or who are lacking the critical skills they need to apply for work or start businesses of their own.

These avenues need to be communicated to the women who need them most.

The future: A broader view

Work readiness, skills development, short courses, learnerships, and workplace training programmes. These essential offerings open doors that benefit not only the women who complete them, but the companies who employ them, and the families and communities of which they are a part.

Combine these workplace programmes with critical changes in quotas, mandates, policies and legislation and we might begin to move the needle on female empowerment in South Africa.

These adjustments need to be undertaken systemically — not in silos, but across sectors; not just locally, but nationally. Radical transformation requires radical intervention, and if we are to build on the momentum of women’s rights began nearly 70 years ago, we need to be bold.

Winnie Mandela once said, “If you are to free yourselves you must break the chains of oppression yourselves. Only then can we express our dignity, only when we have liberated ourselves can we cooperate with other groups.”

The key to this, I believe, is education. Let’s be relentless and assertive in how we talk about female empowerment, and let’s make sure that it places the education of women first. Our future depends on it.