This October, the Bok Women are joining forces with Project Flamingo supported by Engen SA for Make Room for Her, a campaign that brings women’s sport and women’s health together around one simple idea: every woman deserves to be seen, supported and cared for.
From the locker room to the chemo room, every woman deserves room to be seen, heard, treated and supported, and together, we can tackle anything.
The Springbok Women understand what it means to fight for room: Room on the field, room in the sporting conversation, room in the media, room in the stadium and room for women’s sport to grow. Project Flamingo see’s another fight: Room in clinics, room on waiting lists, room in treatment pathways, room for women to be heard, room for women to receive timely care.
SA Rugby CEO Rian Oberholzer says the message is simple: Make Room for Her – her voice, her questions, her diagnosis, her treatment and her fight.
“We know that our valued Springbok Women have had to earn their own room in South African sport, and that their journey has not always been an easy one. Project Flamingo has spent 16 years bridging critical gaps in the public healthcare system through surgery, diagnostics, patient support and system strengthening. Together, this partnership makes the same case twice over – that women deserve to be seen, heard and given the opportunity to thrive. As SA Rugby, we are extremely proud to power forward together and make a genuine difference.”
To mark the launch of the campaign, Babalwa Latcha, Nadine Roos, Insaf Levy, Chumisa Qawe and Aimee Barett-Theron met with Dr Liana Roodt, Founder & CEO of Project Flamingo, and the multi-disciplinary care team at Groote Schuur hospital’s breast clinic, where thousands of women are seen and cared for every year.
Project Flamingo plays a significant partnership role in ensuring timely treatment is provided to patients, and Dr Roodt says that this October, she will wear black, not as a symbol of despair but as an act of reflection and of grief, ‘to mourn the preventable suffering we have allowed to become normal’;
“This is not just another breast cancer awareness campaign. Our women need systems that respond when they speak, pathways that work when they ask for help, and the confidence to claim the space that was theirs all along. We need to stop talking about making room for women and start doing it, because change will not come from talking about it, but rather from building it – from the inside out. With the Springbok Women and SA Rugby behind us, we can turn hope into meaningful, empowering change for good.”
SA Rugby partner, Engen, are backing the initiative. CEO George Roberts said:
“At Engen, we believe making room for women and fuelling their fight means more than raising awareness – it means supporting action that creates meaningful change. We are proud to stand alongside the Springbok Women and Project Flamingo in helping ensure more women are seen, heard and supported when it matters most.”
“We are proud to stand alongside the Springbok Women and Project Flamingo in helping ensure more women are seen, heard and supported when it matters most.”
For women, body-awareness is a powerful tool on and off the field. For the Springbok Women, it’s a scrum. For all women, it’s a life-saving monthly check-in.
The Springbok Women know what it means to fight for their place.
Now they’re asking South Africa to Make Room for Her.
