Women's National Coalition of South Africa, South Africa

The Women's National Coalition was formed in April 1991, when women met in Johannesburg to form a coalition of organisations to work towards a women's charter which would guarantee effective equality. At the founding meeting, 70 national organisations joined the coalition and a Steering Committee was elected with Dr. Frene Ginwala and Ms. Anne Letsepe as convenors. The tasks were to lead a scientific research group and to mobilise women to participate in the process.

Within the first year, eight regional coalitions were organised, a national office in Johannesburg established, and a research team and a legal working group were functional.

The research team with technical councillors, initially set out to establish hundreds of focus groups all over the country. Over the following two years an estimated three million women participated in the focus groups where they voiced their aspirations and pointed out their grievances.

The results were analysed by a group of researchers and their findings were discussed with the legal working group to determine the boundaries within which a women's charter could be formulated. In the interim, women were mobilised to participate in regional and national conferences and encouraged to develop leadership abilities to prepare themselves for South Africa's first democratic elections on April 27, 1993.

The Women's Charter, which is now officially recognised and endorsed by the National Parliament as well as by all nine regional parliaments, forms part of the documentation which will determine the final constitution of South Africa. The document enjoys the support of President Nelson Mandela.

Many difficulties had to be overcome in order to bring women together to speak with a unified voice. The biggest challenge was to unite women, during the worst political violence the country had ever experienced. This was achieved when the Women's Charter was accepted at a national convention on February 25-27, 1994. This document was unanimously adopted with the exception of minor clauses with which particular organisations could not come to terms. The Women's Charter has 12 Articles and deals with equality, law and the administration of justice, the economy, education and training, development infrastructure and the environment, social services, political and civic life, family life and partnerships, custom, culture and religion, violence against women, health and media. The Charter has been translated in all 11 official languages. During the past year, many workshops have been held to promote the contents of the Charter to all the different communities.

The Women's Charter was officially handed to the State President on August 9, 1994 and subsequently this day has been officially declared National Women's Day and has the status of a public holiday.