31 July 2017

'Women hold up half the sky': One of SAHA's thematic exhibition kits that is available for loan

Opening panel of SAHA exhibition kit 'Women hold up half the sky'

"We stand shoulder to shoulder with our menfolk in a common struggle against poverty, race and class discrimination."

- FEDSAW, 17 April 1954.


To commemorate Women's Day on August 9, the South African History Archive (SAHA) has developed an exhibition kit 'Women hold up half the sky: Commemorating women in the struggle' in which artefacts from the archives provide a lens into decades of women's resistance to apartheid. 

From FEDSAW's launch of the Women's Charter in 1954, through stories of leading women in detention and females fighting alongside male cadres in Umkhonto we Sizwe, to women embracing key UDF campaigns and the relaunch of the ANC Women's League and the establishment of National Women's Day, this exhibition kit uses of reproductions of posters, photographs, and other archival materials to tell a story of the contributions of women to the liberation struggle in South Africa.

'Women hold up half the sky' will be on display in the courtyard of the Women's Jail at Constitution Hill for the month of August. Also visit the SAHA Virtual Exhibition of Women Hold up half the sky: Commemorating women in the struggle. 

Development of this SAHA exhibition kit was funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and the Atlantic Philanthropies.

Please email info@saha.org.za or visit the SAHA website for more information about SAHA's exhibition kits.