The City of Cape Town’s social development and early childhood development (SDECD) department commemorated Women’s Month with an event focused on the mental health and well-being of women.
More than 100 women from various suburbs, including Philippi, Khayelitsha, Langa, Schaapkraal, Sir Lowry’s Pass, Kleinvlei, Ravensmead, Fisantekraal, Elsies River, Wesbank and Manenberg attended the event which included health awareness talks, art therapy, entrepreneurial opportunities and pampering sessions.
The Women’s Month event is the latest in a series of ongoing, city-wide interventions by the City’s social development and early childhood development department, to empower women, and strengthen families.
“While we applaud the great strides made in capacitating women and putting them on an equal footing, this month shines a spotlight on the continued social issues women face. I want to encourage our women to take up the opportunities offered by the City such as the Women for Change programme which gives them the opportunity to play a more active role in their communities,” said the City’s Mayco member for community services and health, Patricia van der Ross.
In June, 784 women took hold of the opportunity to make a difference in their communities and graduated from the Women for Change programme.
The majority of the women who participate in the programme are tenants in the City’s rental stock and they are trained and deployed throughout the city to help uplift areas where City-owned rental stock is situated.
In the past year, the SDECD has also disbursed more than R3 million to various gender-based programmes run by women’s shelters, through grant-in-aid funding. “There are a number of opportunities available to our residents, throughout the year, and I want to encourage women to fully exploit these. I also want to remind them of the many free services offered by our clinics,” added Van der Ross.