Jabulile Mbatha9 August 2025 | 13:28

MMAWUSA urges all women to look to history to confront challenges

The union said that women continued to face issues such as discrimination, harassment, and unequal pay in their workplaces.

MMAWUSA urges all women to look to history to confront challenges

Generic archive mining image. Wikimedia Commons/Derbrauni

JOHANNESBURG - On Women’s Day, the Metal Mining and Allied Workers Union of South Africa (MMAWUSA) is calling on all women to draw on the lessons of history to confront the challenges faced in male-dominated industries.

The union said that women continued to face issues such as discrimination, harassment, and unequal pay in their workplaces.

As the country commemorates the women of 1956, who marched against oppressive pass laws, the union said that struggle was not only about policy - it was also about dignity, freedom, and the right to be recognised as human beings in society.

In 1973, a series of worker-led strikes erupted across the country, lasting several months in a coordinated fight for black workers' rights.

These strikes marked a turning point, paving the way for the creation of non-racial trade unions in a segregated labour environment.

On Saturday, MMAWUSA said that those strikes were the rebirth of modern-day unionism and should be celebrated alongside the historic events of Women’s Day.

The union’s media official, Relebogile Thebe: "Confront workplace harassment and discrimination with the courage of the 1956 marchers and the 1973 strikers. Demand equal pay for equal work and push for more vigorous enforcement of laws to close the gender pay gap. Transform the union movement from within, ensuring women’s leadership is visible, respected, and empowered."

Thebe added that the union paid special tribute to working-class women, who she said had long been the backbone of the labour movement.