Nelson Mandela: How he freed the women of South Africa When that release finally came, it required an extraordinary human being to chart a course through a new South Africa - a country now filled with hope and possibility but simmering with fresh tensions too. It required someone who understood the power of forgiveness and community, who was committed to dialogue and who could lead by example. Nelson Mandela was that person. 1956 treason trial As Lindiwe Mazibuko, the Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader recently interviewed on BBC Hardtalk said during a presidency budget vote debate: "Mandela showed that "a leader's words and actions matter" [...] He defined the truths of his time in simple terms. In his first State-of-the-Nation Address on May 24, 1994, he plainly said that the 'acid test of the legitimacy' of his administration would be the progress made in delivering measurable freedoms. What freedoms did Mandela deliver to the women of South Africa? On the August 9, 1995, South Africa's first National Women's Day, he made his intentions clear: As a tribute to the legions of women who navigated the path of fighting for justice before us, we ought to imprint in the supreme law of the land, firm principles upholding the rights of women. The women themselves and the whole of society, must make this a prime responsibility [...] Together, we have it in our power to change South Africa for the better. 1950: The boxer Mandela set about creating a constitution, which gave South African women one of the most comprehensive set of rights in the world including the right to "bodily and psychological integrity," the right to "make decisions concerning reproduction" and to "security in and control over their body." It also protected women from discrimination, rape and domestic violence. The situation today But the truth is, despite constitutionally entrenched gender equality, the majority of South African women continue to suffer. It is an oft-quoted fact that the country has the highest rate of rape in the world with many of these cases of sexual abuse going unreported for fear of reprisal or blame. South African women remain one the highest groups infected by HIV/Aids globally. And despite the 2006 Civil Unions Act, which legalises same sex marriage, traditional attitudes mean rape is shockingly seen by some as a "cure" for lesbianism. In the workplace, women make up just 28 per cent of senior management positions. The majority of South African women remain marginalised. Though he left public office in 1999, Nelson Mandela and Graca Machel, whom he married at the age of 80 in 1998, continued to campaign for women's rights in South Africa and other developing countries. In a 2006 speech made in Johannesburg when he received Amnesty International's Ambassador of Conscience award, he said: "Women and girls need safe environments to learn and to work. At the moment, discrimination and violence exacerbate their lack of access to the very tools they need to make their own rights a reality. If girls do not have a safe and non-discriminatory environment to pursue education or gain employment, the consequences reverberate throughout their lives, denying them the choice and freedom we take for granted. Women overcoming adversity And yet, despite continued inequalities, we see more women making their voices heard in politics, business, finance, media and civil society than at any other point in South Africa's history. Eighteen years after Mandela's first call for women to make women's rights a "prime responsibility," they make up approximately 40 per cent of local government, parliament and cabinet. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is an ex-ANC minister and the first woman to lead the commission of the African Union, Helen Zille leads the opposition Democratic Alliance party, Thuli Madonsela is the country's fearless public prosecutor, Patricia de Lille is Mayor of Cape Town and leader of the Independent Democrats, Dr Mamphela Ramphele leads newly formed political party Agang, Gill Marcus, Governor of the Reserve Bank, Ferial Haffejee, editor of the City Press newspaper ... And then there is the new generation of young female role models like Mazibuko who are stepping confidently onto the world stage. 1958 portrait As we grieve the loss of the father of our freedoms, we should do him the honour of remembering the hard-won struggle for them. And then we should get to work. Quietly or vociferously, always powerfully, we should continue to make rights for all women our "prime responsibility." Perhaps then, it is in South Africa's female leaders that Madiba's legacy may be felt most strongly. Because if these women can continue to lead by example with strength, integrity, morality, compassion and most of all, humanity - as Nelson Mandela taught them so elegantly to do - and in turn inspire a new generation of leaders to learn the words to their song, perhaps all of the freedoms which Madiba stood and fought for, might one day be realised. Karen Robertson is a London-based writer from South Africa