By Noma Handa, SAAYC Executive Assistant
“Empowerment” has become a universal concept in our increasingly hyperconnected world. It has made its way into the hashtags we share, the slogans we wear, and the campaigns we champion. But for many young women in South Africa, these words fall flat without real change, action, and results.
We live in a country where Women’s Month is celebrated. We post #GirlPower across our socials. We talk about strength, courage, and resilience. But what does empowerment look like, beyond the hashtag, poverty still exists, safety is still precariously not guaranteed, and opportunities are unequally distributed.
At SAAYC, we believe it is time to move from inspiration to implementation. Real empowerment is about ensuring young women feel heard, but are also empowered to lead, thrive, and change the world around them.
The illusion of progress
Can we say young women are empowered when:
- Gender-based violence is still endemic, without accountability.
- Rural girls don’t have access to sanitary products and walk kilometres to school.
- Women-led ideas are still sidelined in boardrooms, policy rooms, and in front of community forums.
Empowerment is not a campaign; it is a commitment. And it must be a commitment deeply integrated in the way we raise, educate, employ, and support young women in this country.
Real empowerment begins with resources
Young women don’t only need confidence, they need:
- Access to quality education and career pathways
- Safe places to express themselves and heal
- Financial support for their ideas, not just mentorship
- Genuine representation in leadership, not tokenism
At SAAYC, we support programmes that build real, structural empowerment. Through our Youth Leadership Development, Skills and Enterprise Training, and Food Security Projects, we do not “uplift” young women; they uplift themselves. We only provide them with the tools, platforms, and support required to achieve it.
The triple burden: Gender, poverty, and youth
For many young women, the challenge of living in South Africa is not solely around being young; it is being young, female, and impoverished. This intersection brings with it compounded layers of exclusion and vulnerability.
But in these same spaces, I witness something extraordinary: resistance and resilience. Young women are starting cooperatives with nothing but an idea. Teen mothers returning to school while parenting their children. Girls are educating their communities about consent and body autonomy.
This is what empowerment looks like: messy, real, courageous, and ongoing.
Transitioning from protection to power
True empowerment isn’t about sheltering young women wrapped away from the world; it’s about preparing them to shape it.
That means:
- Teaching them digital skills, not just etiquette
- Helping them to speak at the podium, not just sit and clap from the sidelines
- Funding their startups, not just cheerleading their ambitions
- Trusting their decision-making, not second-guessing
The new conversation must be “From protecting girls to powering young women”.
Beyond visibility: From hashtags to real change
We’ve made some progress. More young women are completing school. More young women are challenging gender norms. Unfortunately, hashtags are not the solution to addressing inequality; action is.
We must consider:
- Are we now building systems that last beyond Women’s Month?
- Are we now opening the floor to girls’ voices at the decision-making table?
- Are we now facing the systems that have excluded girls?
This is because if power simply does not translate into access, resources, and rights, it’s not power, it’s a performance.
Empowerment is everyday work
At SAAYC, we don’t see young women as beneficiaries; we see them as co-creators of change. Be it community gardens, advocacy forums, or mentorship of peers, they are a strong reminder that empowerment is not given; it is claimed.
But we must all do our part in making sure that this claiming is possible, sustainable, and safe.
“Empowerment is not a slogan, it’s a strategy. It is what happens when young women are seen, supported, and given the freedom to lead without fear.” – Noma Handa
Going beyond more than a celebration
This Women’s Month, and every month, we have to go beyond the hashtag. We have to put in place systems in which empowerment is not seasonal or symbolic. We have to invest in programmes, policies, and people that equip young women to make decisions about their futures, because when young women rise, communities rise too.
#BeyondTheHashtag | #WomenLeadSA | #SAAYCForChange
For more information about how SAAYC empowers young women, please visit: www.saayc.co.za
