The continuing relevance of feminist resistance 70 years after the 1956 Anti-Pass laws Movement
- Comfort Molefinyana
Resistance and transformative change: The continuing relevance of feminist resistance 70 years after the 1956 Anti-Pass laws Movement
On July 9–11, 2026 the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) hosted their 34th Annual in-person conference in Cali, Colombia. The conference brought together over 500 scholars, activists, and civil society organisations from across the world under this year’s theme “Feminist Economics and Transformative Changes: Ideas, Policies and movement”. The opening and closing plenary sessions highlighted the importance of feminist ideas, policies and grassroots movements as important levers to social and economic transformation.
The feminist scholars and activists on the panels centred the discussion on transformative change within the current context of a global rise in movements seeking to reverse and curb the advances in equality for women and marginalised groups. The discussions reflected on these movements’ ability to advocate and mobilise workers, trade unions and communities on the ground and their ability to articulate their “struggle” often by creating moral panic through issues such as economic insecurity, violence and organised crime, corruption and migration. What was identified as a gap however is an analysis of the economic conditions that facilitate the expansion of these movements. Feminist economist Nancy Folbre highlighted that this shifts the narrative from the structural issues of inequality to conservative reactions related to gender, race, or identity.
This global conversation about resistance and transformative change resonates closely with South Africa’s own history of resistance. The 9th of August 2026 marks the 70th anniversary of the monumental 1956 Anti-Pass march, which brought together 20 000 women from all parts of South Africa, staging one of the biggest protests against the apartheid government at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. It’s important not to isolate the 9th of August, but to situate the movement within its historical precedent, the 1913 Orange Free State anti-pass resistance, illustrating decades-long sustained resistance by women against restrictive laws enacted by colonial powers and the apartheid government. The 1956 march was organised by the Federation of South African Women (FSAW), led by key figures including Lilian Ngoyi, Rahima Moosa, Helen Joseph, and Sophia Williams de Bruyn. It marked a milestone for the women’s movement by demonstrating women’s strong opposition to the apartheid government and reinforcing both their significant contribution to the struggle for liberation and the importance of solidarity and alliances.
Despite the pride that can be taken in women’s involvement in the transition to democracy, National Women’s Day draws attention to the important socio-economic issues that women continue to face 70 years on including gender-based violence, discrimination, unemployment, and high persistent levels of inequality. This year, the South African government commemorates Women’s Day under the theme “Empowered Women Empower the Nation”. Feminist Economist, Sheba Tejani’s contribution at IAFFE drew on India as a case study and cautioned against the potential of empowerment to be as a political strategy without necessarily translation into greater autonomy, redistribution of power and equal rights. She explained that governments can incorporate the language of female empowerment while maintaining policies that reinforce traditional gender roles and avoid transforming structural inequalities. Further, while close to 45% of women are represented in national parliament, a figure that is amongst one of the highest in the world, Shireen Hassim’s 2003 publication on institutionalising gender equality aptly notes that this has changed the struggle for gender equity into a state-led project and one that has not been effective in addressing issues that women face.
Reflecting on the insights from IAFFE around resistance and transformative amid increasing anti-gender movements, alongside the strategic resistance and collective power of the 1956 Anti-Pass march, there is an opportunity to draw from these lessons to build feminist movements that extend the work that identifies and names the economic conditions, such as precarity, austerity and dispossession, that anti-gender movements tend to exploit. Formations such as the FSAW further provide a basis for what this looks like in practice, a movement that exists outside the state, with its own justice-based vision and has the capacity to challenge the terms on which policy is made as opposed to simply seeking representation in it. Seventy years on, the lesson is clear, to mobilise beyond representation and to shift towards centring material conditions.