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Limpopo Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba has noted the extent to which government has deliberately placed women at the forefront of governance, administration and development from 1994 to 2026.
This during her keynote address during the provincial commemoration of Women’s Day at Ga-Monyeki within the Waterberg District on 9 August.
Ramathuba expressed, “Today, we don’t have to count the ‘first female doctor’ as a rare exception. We now count women doctors in numbers, because they are present in our public and private health systems in growing numbers, serving our people with distinction. Women have also entered the fields of science, engineering and technology in ways that were once unimaginable, because government opened opportunities and deliberately invested in programmes that support the advancement of women in these fields.”
The premier gave an example that 225 doctors graduated from the University of Limpopo since its establishment 10 years ago, highlighting that almost half of those graduates are women.
“Similarly, there has been a marked increase in women’s representation in engineering, with more than 35% of the graduates in this field across the country since 1994 being women, many of whom now serve in both public and private institutions,” Ramathuba said.
She said that in Limpopo, this progress is visible in leadership structures. “The ExCo is now majority female and the representation of women in senior management services has increased from less than 20% in 1994 to over 45% today. Our responsibility now is to push that representation beyond 50%, so that it reflects the demographic reality and talent of our province,” the premier said.
Ramathuba acknowledged that significant progress has been made but there is still a lot to be done to be where they need to be.
Thousands of people from across the province gathered at the Waterberg District to commemorate the day under the theme “Empowered Women Empower Nations”.
