It can be particularly hard for womxn on low pay or in insecure work to report being harassed by senior colleagues or bosses, knowing their job may – wrongly these were a sentemens made by young on March during a young womens camp wich brought together young womxn from different parts of south Africa. To discuss as well to create a young womxn manifesto wich aims at ensuring that young womxn who are entering the world of world will be protect. The manifesto will be used as a tool to engange with the duty barriers in regards to the issue of sexual harassment.
Lin Nxumalo, ActionAid South Africa’s Women’s Rights Programme Manager, explains AASA’s vision for young womxn to gain feminist tools to tackle harassment, exploitation and abuse across all spheres of society, including the workplace.
From this gathering, ActionAid South Africa hopes to build a Young Women’s Manifesto that reflects practical demands by young from across South Africa.
The role and of young womxn in South Africa’s economy cannot be ignored or dismissed as insignificant.
It is young womxn who are pioneering alternatives economies, harnessing innovate technologies to enterprise. It is young womxn who are leading care-work at home. It is young womxn who are at the forefront of our social justice movements demanding equity. It is young womxn who are creating new languages to understand gender, sexualities and expression. It is young womxn questioning power and disturbing the order of patriarchy. It is young womxn leading the way to parliament for all young womxn. It is young womxn who are saying “NO!, I will not be exploited like my mother and her mother and her mother was exploited in the workplace.”
It is young womxn who will lead us in transforming our societies by creating equal opportunity and safer environments for all.