This is the space where women can educate, organise, build solidarity, and share their struggles and experiences while fighting against issues keeping women down. The Network meets monthly, every third (3rd) Saturday from 8:30 am to 16:30 pm.
In past meetings, the FemNet looked
at:
i. Women’s reproductive rights – systems
like neoliberalism and patriarchy affect women’s socio-economic position and
stand as a barrier to women getting access to their rights.
ii. Neoliberalism and Privatisation –
neoliberalism only benefits the minority which is the capitalists and wealthy
people while majority in suffering which is the working class and the poor. The
privatisation of basic services affects women the most as they are the ones
mostly responsible for taking care of households and are breadwinners in the
house. Also, the responsibility of social reproduction of children is on them.
iii. The regulation of The Children’s
Act and Bill of Rights – the Act is supposed to protect all children in
South Africa, regardless of social standing, race or economic background but
the status of today we still see certain laws in tradition and culture which
continue without interruption and mostly the children of the working class are
victims of those cultural practices.
iv. Women’s Oppression – Women’s oppression has existed for centuries in almost all cultures of the world and people tend to think that inequality between men and women is “natural” which is not the case and is something that can be changed.
The Network activities are open to all working women and include skills development (computer skills and writing skills), reading and debate. The Network has a monthly edition of the SSM Newsletter, which tracks activities that were done during course of the month and informs us about any issues that have emerged. This newsletter is produced by the SSM NetFem members who they write their own articles.