SOUTH AFRICA: EFF calls for review of women's salaries

Cape Town - Women's salaries should be reviewed so that they can earn the same as men for the same jobs, the EFF said in its Women's Day message on Tuesday.

"On the 60th Anniversary of the 1956 Women's March, the EFF calls on all companies and state departments to review salaries and give women the same salaries that men receive for the same jobs," said Economic Freedom Fighters spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.

The party also wants sanitary towels to be made as freely available by the government as condoms are.

The party said that 60 years after the anti-pass law march, women still feel restricted, and unsafe, with levels of violence and rape restricting their freedom in a way similar to the pass laws that the women marched against.

"We have not reflected on women's image as tools of beauty to be consumed in a society dominated by patriarchal men. Society has not transcended the reality that women are more than their looks, and the reduction to their bodies constitutes the basis for why they are abused and silenced," he said.

Khwezi protest

On Saturday, members of the EFF's elections team surprised the IEC and President Jacob Zuma's security detail during his speech at the IEC results centre when they lifted pieces of paper bearing words in remembrance of "Khwezi", the woman who accused Zuma of rape in 2006.

Zuma was acquitted of the charge, but the woman appears to still be in hiding after being treated abominably by Zuma supporters when she entered and left court during the trial.

In the aftermath of the protest, EFF leader Julius Malema came in for criticism over comments he made in 2009 questioning her version of events.

In his capacity as president of the ANC Youth League then, Malema was taken to the Equality Court by the Sonke Gender Justice Network on a charge of hate speech after comments that the woman had had a "nice time" and asked for taxi fare afterwards.

Malema was expelled from the ANCYL, and went on to become a founder and leader of the EFF.

He was found guilty of hate speech, and apologised for the comment, but the issue was quickly raised again after Saturday's protest.

In the EFF's Women's Day statement, Ndlozi said matric results show that many girl pupils do better than their male counterparts but face salary inequalities because of their gender.

Women also struggle to own land in rural areas, which impedes their efforts to break out of poverty, he continued.

"Finally, the EFF believes that women's economic emancipation is the first genuine step towards the ending of patriarchy; thus, the attainment of economic freedom in our lifetime is essential to the struggle against patriarchy," he said.

News24