9TH August marks the commemoration of National Women's Day. We remember this historic day in 1956 when 20 000 women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, led by great heroines of our struggle against apartheid such as Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophia Williams-de Bruyn. The theme for this year's commemoration of National Women's Day and Month is:

"WORKING TOGETHER FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AND PROGRESS FOR ALLWOMEN''

A lot of effort has gone into ensuring full participation by all sectors in this year's Women's Month celebrations. We are confident that this month is going to be a period when all of us as South Africans reflect on the advances and recommit ourselves to address the many challenges on our path to creating a truly non-sexist and demographic society.

A significant area of focus for this month will be the challenge of violence against women and children. The experience of the 20 1 0 Soccer World Cup indicates that it is possible to minimize incidents of abuse through a combination of high community awareness, social cohesion and effective social and law-enforcement services.

Information available suggests that the upsurge in human trafficking and other forms of abuse predicted for the World Cup never materialized. We need to retain the same high level of law enforcement, solidarity and the spirit of Ubuntu demonstrated by our people during the World Cup.

The 2010 Women's Month programme is available on www.gov.za

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Author affiliation:

Ms Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya, Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities.