Women Draw up a Petition against Pass Laws

Black and Coloured women protesting against pass laws in Bloemfontein, Free State in 1913.

Date: 27 Jan 1914
Updated: 20 Jul 2026

Black women in what was then the Orange Free State protested when they were included in Pass legislation previously reserved for African men only. The Executive Committee of the Orange Free State Native and Coloured Women's Association sent a petition to Governor-General Gladstone. Women pleaded with him to persuade the Prime Minister and Minister of Native Affairs to relax the pass laws. By 1918, this matter was discussed with the Prime Minister, Louis Botha. This law was subsequently relaxed until the 1950s.

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How we know this

01Bobby-Evans, A., Woman's Anti-Pass Law Campaigns in South Africa, from About.com, [online], Available at africanhistory.about.com [Accessed: 08 January 2014]
02Grisim, R., (2013), South African Bantu women win anti-pass campaign in Orange Free State, 1912-1918, from Global Nonviolent Action Database, 21 March, [online], Available at nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu [Accessed: 08 January 2014]

Last updated · 20 Jul 2026

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Women Draw up a Petition against Pass Laws. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011360

South African History Online (2011) 'Women Draw up a Petition against Pass Laws', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011360 (Accessed: 23 July 2026).

South African History Online, Women Draw up a Petition against Pass Laws [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011360, (accessed 23 July 2026).

"Women Draw up a Petition against Pass Laws." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011360. Accessed 23 July 2026.

South African History Online. "Women Draw up a Petition against Pass Laws." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011360.