By Nicolette Scrooby

THE Eastern Cape will next month become the first province to launch a provincial chapter of the Progressive Women’s Movement of South Africa.
The movement is aimed at acting a platform for all progressive women’s structures and individuals to actively debate and participate in developing this country.
The SA chapter was launched in Bloemfontein last year – on Women’s Day, August 9 – after the organisation was first launched in Amsterdam.
Yesterday, women from all over the province met in East London for a two-day conference to debate the formation of the movement, which will also be tasked with fighting discrimination in all spheres of life.
The provincial launch will be held in Port Elizabeth on March 7 and 8.
MEC for Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Noxolo Abraham-Ntantiso, said the movement would empower women and inform them of their rights.
At the Bloemfontein launch, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka called on SA women to make a difference, especially those in leadership and prominent positions.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said: “Skills inadequacy and economic disempowerment traps women in poverty, while early childbearing often means an end to a young woman’s education, and having a large family severely limits her job choices, work productivity and mobility.”