Tag Archives: education

Women’s Day celebrates women’s rights, but demands more!

Women’s Day has been celebrated in South Africa on 9 August since 1995, and is an official public holiday.

The day commemorates the 20000 women who marched on the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956, to protest the extension of Pass Laws to women, which controlled women even further and reduced them to passive beings, at the mercy of men.

This year the theme of Women’s Day is ‘Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights for an Equal Future’. The day draws attention to the issues African women face, such as parenting, domestic violence, unequal pay, and schooling.

The celebration of women on one day only has grown to all of August being celebrated as Women’s Month.

As the rights of women have grown, many local women have climbed up corporate, political, academic, and Government ladders. These are some of them:

#. Helen Zille:  Former Mayor of Cape Town and Premier of the Western Cape.

#. Professor Thuli Madonsela: former Public Protector, and current Law Trust Chair for Social Justice Research at the University of Stellenbosch

#. Nicky Newton-King, the first woman to run the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

#. Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town.

#. Dr Elmi Muller, organ transplant pioneer

#.  Dr Mosadi Mahoko, award-winning plastic surgeon specialising in cleft lip and palate reconstruction surgery.

#  Dr Glenda Gray, CEO and President of the SA Medical Research Council.

#  Ministers Angela Thokozile Didiza, Maisie Angelina Motshekga, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Thandi Ruth Modise, Barbara Dallas Creecy, Mmamoloko Kubayi, Dr Naledi Pandor, Maite Emily Nkoana-Mashabane, Patricia de Lille, Lindiwe Sisulu, in the SA Government.

Women are still not receiving equal pay in many professions and jobs, and it is time that this gender discrimination be put an end to.  They also do not receive equal opportunities in employment, and career advancement.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whaletalesblog.com www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide, Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide

 

 

Corona Virus: South Africa sends medical equipment to Cuba, 200 Cuban doctors arrive in our country!

 

 

In the media briefing on Saturday we were told by Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma that a team of Cuban doctors was on its way to our country, due to land here today. She declined to reply to a question as to how many medical professionals were due to arrive. A friend living in Havana sent me an article confirming this information, with the figure of 200 health professionals mentioned. Surprising was to read that our country sent a plane load of medical materials to Havana last week, including infra-red thermometers, gloves, masks, and hospital bed covers. The gift to Cuba was described as ‘… not a donation, but a modest gesture of brotherhood.…’! Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 20/21 September

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   An increasing number of Indian TV shows and series is being filmed in countries outside of India, and South Africa is one of the countries benefiting too (see the promo for Dare2Dance, shot in Cape Town).  SA Tourism Country Manager for India Hannelie Slabber said: ‘We have seen a great increase in films and television channels approaching us for associations over the last few years’.  Most of the shooting has been in Gauteng, the Western Cape including the Garden Route, and KwaZulu-Natal, while the Kruger National Park is a popular film location too.

*   Domaine des Dieux won the 14th Amorim Cap Classique Challenge 2014 with its Claudia Brut 2009, a Pinot Noir Chardonnay blend, for Best Brut Blend and Best Producer against 100 other Cap Classique entries.   Graham Beck and Lord both took the top honours in the Blended Brut category.  The former MCC producer also won Best Vintage (2009) and Best Non-Vintage Rosé.   Laborie won Best Vintage Blanc de Blancs (2010), and Colmant the Best Blanc de Blanc non-Vintage category.  Simonsig won the Museum Class for its Kaapse Vonkel 2004.  Judging panel chairman Allan Mullins of Woolworths said that the sparkling wines showed more consistency this year, and were of a higher quality. Mullins was named the inaugural recipient of the Frans Malan Legacy Award.

*   South Africa has dropped in its rank on World  Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Continue reading →

SA Tourism media extravagance in New York criticised as inappropriate!

Le Bernardin private roomIt was interesting to read a critical article about the perceived extravagance and inappropriateness of a recent media lunch hosted by SA Tourism and Marthinus van Schalkwyk, our Minister of Tourism, in New York.

The article was posted on eTurboNews, but the writer is not identified.  Looking at the editorial panel of the online newsletter, one can assume it was written by Dr Elinor Garely, who is the only journalist for the newsletter based in New York.

Dr Garely writes that she had previously visited South Africa ‘many years’ ago, and Cape Town in particular, whilst she was working on her doctoral dissertation in international business.   Her overriding impression was the contradiction she saw then: ‘While the hotels were lovely, the restaurants for dining and tasting South African Continue reading →