​Observed on the 9th of August in South Africa every year, Women's Day is an annual remembrance of the 1956 march to the Union Buildings by 20000 women who defied the apartheid authorities' implementation of pass restrictions that limited their movement.
66 years after the march, August as the Women's Month continues to direct the nation's attention on the country's progress towards gender parity and recognizes the various contributions of women to the development of our society and economy. It is a period during which the country reflects on the issues that women encounter while measuring developments in reforming society, notably the transformation of unequal power relations.

This year, the national government is engaging in the global Generation Equality campaign in concerted effort to achieve the 5th sustainable development goal, Gender Equality, by 2030. The theme focuses on Women’s Socio-economic Rights and Empowerment: ‘Building back better for women’s improved resilience’.
The theme focuses on Women’s Socio-economic Rights and Empowerment: ‘Building back better for women’s improved resilience’.

The Gauteng Department of Social Development recognizes all women who continue to be the driving force in our society. The Department advocates for safer environments for women and young girls, with the goal of removing barriers and allowing them to thrive. This is accomplished through interventions such as the Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP), which assists survivors by providing psychosocial support services, ensuring rights and socioeconomic empowerment are mainstreamed, and preventing ongoing victimization while also providing a shelter service.

Although much has been done in the fight for gender equality, we still have a long way to go. As we ushered in this Women’s month, National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola, reported that just in July, a total of 3193 of suspects were arrested for Assault with intention to cause Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH), 576 for murder, 360 attempted murder, 432 for rape and 177 for sexual offences.

Moreover, the Department has the responsibility of promoting gender equality, equal participation and representation of women in the workplace whilst maintaining inclusion in the provision of skills development programs, learnerships, and bursaries, ensuring that women continue to foster economic and social development.

In the 2021/22 Financial Year the department ensured the participation of 350 people in internship programmes and 70% were young women. 21 380 women participated in various empowerment programmes. 16 021 young women benefited from Welfare To Work (W2W). This programme is one of the brainchildren of the Gauteng Provincial Government’s Tshepo 1-Million programme, which involves taking welfare recipients to the work and training environment provided by host Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs).

Initially, it was developed to support young women who are recipients of Child Support Grant, but further expanded to assist exiting foster care beneficiaries, victims of gender-based violence, recovering substance abuse service users, woman exiting VEP shelters, beneficiaries exiting child justice system, and all other beneficiaries to transit from welfare into the world of self-reliance .