Across the entrance to the Company’s Garden, see one of only two statues of women in the city, Queen Victoria. The other is Maria van Riebeeck, wife of the colonist Jan down on the foreshore. The marble queen stands in a leafy spot o the side of Parliament. Traditionally the Mother City has always been home to Parliament with Pretoria the administrative capital, though there is ongoing debate about the economic viability of this arrangement. Today Parliament is made up of approximately 42% women. The city currently (2017) has a female Mayor: Patricia de Lille and the Western Cape province has a female premier: DA leader Helen Zille. Every year a Woman’s Parliament is held in August, Women’s Month. August 9th is Women’s Day honouring the day of the Women’s March back in 1956 when over 20,000 women marched to the Union Buildings to protest the Pass Laws.
