In South Africa, Women’s Day commemorates the courage of the thousands of women who marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 to protest against the pass laws. This action placed women at the centre of the struggle against Apartheid. Today South Africa has a new constitution that protects the rights and dignity of women. The government has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. Yet South Africa has the 3rd highest rape statistics in the world, young women are in the high-risk category for HIV infection and one in six women are abused in their own homes.