The first sentence of the first clause in the Freedom Charter demands that “Every man and woman shall have the right to vote for and stand as a candidate for all bodies which make the laws.” From the start, then, the Freedom Charter links equality between women and men to its major political demand: “The people shall govern.”

However, political equality is not good enough on its own. If women, one half of the people, are to take their rightful place, then they must be free of the special social oppression that affects them. This is not a concession to women, for without the fullest participation of women in the struggle South Africa as a whole will not be liberated.

In particular, the Freedom Charter voices the demands of the working women. The Charter demands equal pay for equal work for all, men and women. It demands crèches and maternity leave on full pay for all working mothers. It demands free medical treatment with special care for mothers and young children.

In South Africa today 90 percent of single working women are also mothers. The demand for full maternity rights is, in our situation, a radical working-class demand which women's organizations and the progressive trade unions are beginning to take up. All other demands in the Charter, even when they do not refer specifically to women, have a particular importance for women. The demand for the land to be shared among those who work it, for instance, and the demand for an end to pass laws and bantustans, speak to millions of women trapped in rural poverty, trying to scratch a living from tiny plots of land.

In 1955 there was less emphasis than at present on the role of women in the struggle. This is reflected in the unequal participation of women in the collection of demands noted by several of those interviewed. It is also reflected in the relative weight of specifically women's demands in the Charter. There were, nevertheless, some outstanding women volunteers at the time. The newly formed Federation of South African Women (Fedsaw) played a significant role in formulating women's aspirations.