The Star reported that a number of women called on the government at a press conference to permit those men who refuse to serve in the army to make their contribution to the nation in a 'non-punitive, constructive alternative service'. They stressed that they had gathered as mothers, wives and sisters and not as members of any organisation.
8 February 1989
Women call for alternative ways of conscription
- Updated
- 20 Jul 2026

How we know this
- 01South African Institute of Race Relations. (1989). Race Relations Survey 1988/89, Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations, pp. 521 & 597.
Last updated · 20 Jul 2026
South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Women call for alternative ways of conscription. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012805
South African History Online (2011) 'Women call for alternative ways of conscription', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012805 (Accessed: 6 November 2026).
South African History Online, Women call for alternative ways of conscription [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012805, (accessed 6 November 2026).
"Women call for alternative ways of conscription." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012805. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.
South African History Online. "Women call for alternative ways of conscription." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012805.
Also on 8 February
- 1881Boers defeat British in the battle of Ingogo (Anglo-Boer War 1)
- 1884Zulu King Cetshwayo Dies
- 1906Members of Bambathas homestead are pursued by policemen for refusing to pay the ‘hut tax’
- 1958Edgar Whitehead succeeds Garfield Todd as premier of South Rhodesia.
- 1964Sir de Villiers Graaff agrees with SA veto of UN visit
- 1981Mozambique stresses its continued support for the ANC
- 1996A cargo plane crashes into a market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing at least 350 people
Further reading
ANC Women’s League (ANCWL)
Indian women workers, Durban’s clothing industry and the GWIU
The Women’s struggle Timeline 1905-2006
Oprah Winfrey's Leadership Academy for Girls, Meyerton, Johannesburg
Charlotte Maxeke, politician and founder of the Bantu Women’s League of South Africa, is born
The first Indian people, 197 men, 89 women and 54 children, arrive in Natal
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