"Repeal the Pass Laws... A Great Demonstration to Parliament."

Women's March 9th August 1956 Union Buildings © Baileys Archives

Flyer issued by the Federation of South African Women and the ANC Women's League (Cape Western),

13 June 1957

Repeal the Pass Laws

Who knows better than any African woman what it means to have a husband who must carry a pass? The women know that:



PASSES MEAN PRISON

PASSES MEAN BROKEN HOMES

PASSES MEAN SUFFERING AND MISERY FOR EVERY AFRICAN FAMILY IN OUR COUNTRY

PASSES ARE JUST ANOTHER WAY IN WHICH THE GOVERNMENT MAKES SLAVES OF THE AFRICANS

PASSES MEAN HUNGER AND UNEMPLOYMENT

PASSES ARE AN INSULT.

And the Government is trying to force our WOMEN to carry passes too. No woman is fooled by the "Reference Book." We know that this is the same as a pass. If a woman is found without this book or if all the papers inside are not in order, she will be pushed into the Kwela-Kwela and taken to gaol. Her children will be left motherless.

TO PAY 3/6 FOR THIS ''REFERENCE BOOK'' IS TO BUY SLAVERY

Why should women carry passes?

The Government has tried to make women carry passes for many years and each time the women have given their answer. By standing united, protesting with one voice and organising all areas around this wicked law, the women are trying to achieve the abolition of the pass law system with its vicious attack on their liberty.

AS IN THE BUS BOYCOTT, THE GOVERNMENT MUST FAIL THIS TIME TOO.

Women of South Africa will always oppose the carrying of passes. With all our strength we must fight against this attack on ourselves, our mothers, sisters, children and families.

EVERY WOMAN MUST SIGN A PLEDGE. STATING HER FIRM OPPOSITION TO THE PASS SYSTEM.

• Let us pledge ourselves to end the whole pass system--for men as well as for women
• Let us have the biggest demonstration of women ever held.
• Let us show Verwoerd that we will never bow down to his brutality.
• DOWN WITH THE PASS SYSTEM!
• Passes are passports to prisons.
• LET US GIVE THE GOVERNMENT THE ANSWER BY HOLDlNG:

A GREAT DEMONSTRATION TO PARLIAMENT on THURSDAY, 13th JUNE, 1957, at 2 p.m.

Meeting Place at Medical Centre, Dock Road (Bottom of St. George's Street), Cape Town

Issued by: Federation of SA Woment and the ANC Women's League (Cape Western), PO Box 2706, Cape Town. Printed by Pioneer Press (pty.) Ltd., Forgate Street, Woodstock, Cape

Source: From Protest to Challenge, A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa 1882-1964, Edited by Thomas Karis and Gwendolin Carter, Vol.3, p.403, Challenge and Violence 1953-1964, Thomas Karis and Gail M Gerhart, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1977.

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