WATCH | Rights progress is real, but gaps remain for women, says Mphatli Kekana

For Mphatli Kekana, Women’s Month is more than a commemoration of the historic march of thousands of women to the Union Buildings in 1956. It is a reminder of the strength, resilience and ambition women continue to carry today.

Kekana, an actuarial professional, founder of the Mphatlalatsane Foundation and digital content creator, says the women who marched in 1956 left behind a legacy that continues to shape the opportunities available to women today.

While women in 2026 face challenges different from those confronted by women in 1956, Kekana believes the freedoms secured by previous generations should be used as a foundation for further progress.

“Women’s Month for me is a reminder, firstly, of the attributes that we carry just based on the struggles that were overcome in 1956,” she said.

“The attributes that those women embodied when they marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 — resilience, intelligence, strategy and ambition — are a reminder that we carry those attributes today.”

How can we leverage some of those opportunities that [the women of 1956] won and fought for on our behalf?—  Mpatla Kekana

Kekana says Women’s Month should be an opportunity for women to reflect on how they can use the freedoms and opportunities they’ve gained that were fought for by previous generations of women.

“I think it’s also an opportunity to sit down and reflect on the freedoms that they afforded us and the privileges, and think about how we can leverage some of those freedoms. How can we leverage some of those opportunities that they won and fought for on our behalf?” she said.

For Kekana, one of the biggest challenges facing women today is not necessarily the absence of rights but the gap between having those rights and being able to access and fully benefit from them.

“We’ve got equal rights to dignity, to access, to property, to education. But there’s still quite a big disparity between the access that we have to those opportunities and the ability to really fully exploit and enjoy those rights. That is the challenge that women still face today,” she said.

“We say, yes, we’ve made it to the workplace, but not as much to senior leadership, not as much to the same remuneration that men receive, for example.”

Kekana works through her Mphatlalatsane Foundation to address the gap between what exists on paper and what women experience in reality.

She says SA has made significant progress in establishing equal rights, but those rights are not always experienced equally.

“Yes, there are equal rights between men and women, and I think we can celebrate how far SA has come in terms of making sure that men and women have equal rights. However, women still experience those rights differently,” she said.

Kekana’s work in digital content creation is another avenue through which she believes women can challenge traditional ideas about womanhood.

“Back in the day, women were viewed quite unilaterally, quite one-dimensionally. You were a caretaker, you were a homemaker, you were made for the house and to nurture,” she said.

“But the digital media space allows us to tell the different stories and the different aspects and dimensions that women possess.”

Her message to young women entering spaces where they remain under-represented is simple: build competence and confidence.

“Make sure that you’ve got something to bring to the table. Make sure that you’re valuable. And when we do ultimately crack the code, you should be next in line,” she said.

Kekana says competence should never require women to hide who they are.

“Continue to show up as a woman in your fullness, in your authenticity, because that’s exactly the kind of representation that we’re lacking and that we’re needing.”