We celebrate Women's Day to recognise the contribution women made to the fight against apartheid. On 9 August 1956 over 20 000 women marched on Parliament to protest against the 'pass books' law.

The words: "Wathint' abafazi, wathint' imbokodo uzokufa!" (when you strike the women, you strike a rock, you will be crushed), have come to symbolise the courage of South African women.

However, the fact that we celebrate Women's Day is a sign of both how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. For while it recognises that women ought to be celebrated for their contribution to society; it simultaneously demonstrates how far we have to go before we can truly be regarded as an egalitarian society.

Women's Day might be a step in the right direction, but it is also simply a token of recognition in a country where the incidence of rape increased by 17.8 percent between 1994 and 2004. It is one day on which the rights and achievements of women are recognised. To whom, one is forced to ask, do the remaining 364 belong?

The answer, unfortunately, is not humankind.

Laws lacking conviction

South Africa has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, in which all citizens are protected and entitled to basic necessities as well as the freedom of movement, expression and religious or sexual orientation.

Enshrined in this Constitution are laws which provide pregnant women with free health care and the right to terminate a pregnancy (Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act); laws which make marital rape and violence in both marital and non-marital relationships illegal (Domestic Violence Act); and laws which amend patriarchal customary traditions to ensure that women do not become property in marriage (Customary Marriages Act).

There are even bodies in place to ensure that these laws are observed. The Commission on Gender Equality is a statutory body which was established with the Constitution to ensure that gender-related laws are upheld. It is an independent body which is subject only to the Constitution and law.

The Office on the State of Women is meant to ensure that the gender equality envisaged by the Constitution becomes manifest in government programmes. This year, President Jacob Zuma introduced a new ministry for Women, Youth, Children and People with Disability. While this may have been done with the intention of furthering the cause of women, its very existence (particularly the grouping with children and people with disabilities) indicates the marginalised position which women hold in South African society.

And yet, our fledgling democracy is failing its women dismally.

Freedoms curtailed by violence

According to the Medical Research Council, South Africa has the highest femicide (female homicide) rate in the world, with a woman being killed by her intimate partner every six hours.

It also has one of the highest rape statistics for a country not at war – the most recent crime statistics released by the police state that in 2007, 36 190 rapes were reported. On average, that works out to 99 rapes a day. Figures made worse by the fact that Nicro (National Institute for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of Offenders) estimates that only between one in 10 and one in 20 cases of rape are actually reported. Of reported cases of rape, only seven percent are successfully prosecuted.

Simply put, of the estimated 990 women who are raped today, only seven will ever get some sort of legal reparation. The majority of these women will know their rapists.

Although the South African Police Service reported a 1.6 percent drop in the number of reported rapes in their most recent release on crime statistics, this figure has been criticised by experts in the field who suggest that this could simply reflect a drop in reporting.

Closely linked to the issue of rape and the limited choice which women have over their sexual behaviour, is the spread of HIV/Aids. According to an article published in HIV/AIDS News by LearnScapes, issue 298 more than 61 percent of Africans who are HIV positive are women and most of the three million people who are infected every year globally are women. Considering that women are three times more likely than men to be infected with the virus during heterosexual sex, the burden of this disease is one which women are, increasingly, having to bear.

Although these acts of violence against women occur across socio-economic, racial and cultural divides, poverty plays an important role in the exacerbation of gender inequality. Financial dependence, as well as a lack of access to education and resources, traps women in violent and oppressive relationships.

The rock is crumbling

The correct laws may be in place, but South Africa is still failing its women on many levels. Firmly entrenched patriarchal belief systems, stigma surrounding abused women, rape and HIV/Aids and poor access to protection and legal redress make these laws meaningless to many.

Once again women's movements are being curtailed. Not by pass books, but by violence, poverty and the threat or actuality of sexual subjugation. And the 'rock' which stood firmly against the tyranny of the apartheid regime is beginning to crumble, because there is no Hans Strijdom, Hendrik Verwoerd or DF Malan. Instead there are fathers, brothers, boyfriends and husbands — protectors and violators.

Before South Africa truly becomes a democratic society, we need to re-evaluate the way in which we perceive gender relations, sexuality, power and the sense of entitlement which pervades our society.

The beggar gauntlet Rebekah Kendal reckons that begging is bad for SA because it fosters a culture of dependency.

Visit our politics page Need the latest political news, features, interviews and profiles? Visit our dedicated page...

Behind closed doors Rebekah Kendal reckons that the real losers in the Percy saga are victims of domestic abuse.