In the run-up to the elections, we’re celebrating #21Sheroes – some of the women who fought a racist, apartheid state to help win our freedoms. Their resistance, courage & protest inspired a legacy we honour in Freedom Month. They also remind us never to take our political rights for granted. Follow #21Sheroes for more.

Gertrude Shope was 29 when she joined the ANC, leaving her work as a teacher in protest against Bantu education. In a life dedicated to the fight against apartheid, she spent years in exile and served as as a leader of Umkhonto We Sizwe, as one of the ANC’s first Chief Representatives and ANCWL President. As part of the Federation of South African Women, she fought to make women’s struggles part of the wider struggle for a free society. This #FreedomMonth, her legacy reminds us of our power to unite for a better SA.