Since the dawn of the democratic dispensation, successive governments have introduced progressive policies and interventions to develop and empower women in a variety of sectors, so that they can play a more meaningful role in society.
Official policy documents show that more women are now active in the economy as entrepreneurs.
A range of healthcare initiatives are targeted at improving women's health in an effort to prevent opportunistic diseases.
And larger numbers of girl school pupils are enrolled in subjects such as mathematics, science and technology, which traditionally have been regarded as the preserve of the boy child.
Despite this progress, a disturbing trend shows a number of school girls from poor communities fail to attend school while menstruating due to a lack of basic necessities such as sanitary towels.
This state of affairs hinders access to basic education and has a negative impact on their performance.
This tramples on their inalienable basic human right to education and undermines their potential to develop fully.
The 2012 Child Gauge Report published by the Children's Institute at the University of Cape Town states that: "In spite of the these setbacks children from poor households must remain in school and perform well enough at competitive school-leaving examination to earn the right to passage to a better life."
This Women's Month we should stop seeing it as an exclusive month for women and adopt an approach that amalgamates women's and girls' developmental needs because, in the long run, their needs and struggles are inseparable.
During this time we should see more girls becoming an integral part of the celebrations by bringing onto the agenda a range of contentious issues that hinder progress in redressing the inequalities.
There is a need for more dialogue at grassroots level to begin to understand the struggles young girls face.
Investing more in women's education from an early age would give them a head-start in life. It would ultimately amplify their potential and give them a greater chance of achieving more in school and in their futures.
It would enhance their potential and equip them with portable and adaptable skills central to protecting the gains they are making, as they occupy positions of leadership in various spheres of life.
We have to come up with programmes that feature SA's most admired female public figures of all races and promote these as role models for young girls.
The programmes would enhance the efforts to promote women's causes and related aspirations and shape the direction that the country is taking in building the nation.
As the late president Nelson Mandela said: "Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farmworkers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another."
Giving vulnerable girls access to an integrated package of services such as educational support and sanitary pads is one of the most effective and efficient steps we can take to give them a head-start in life.
We need to meet their unique needs as we combat the scourge of child poverty. We have to ensure that these vulnerable children do not run the risk of underperforming and of becoming the next generation of poor women.
lMokoena is head of research and policy at the Gauteng department of social development and writes in his personal capacity