Bertha Solomon

20th Century

Photograph of Bertha Solomons. Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

“In my Bill I got about seventy percent of what I wanted – there’s still a bit outstanding. Persistence and hard work – there are no substitutes for these in any career.”

Bertha was just four years old when she arrived in Cape Town from Russia. She attended Good Hope Seminary and the Anglican Diocesan College (Bishops College), becoming one of the first Jewish students at the college. After qualifying as a teacher, Bertha married Charles Solomon and moved to Johannesburg.

Ten years later, in 1923, Bertha studied law, opened her own practice and became the first female advocate to appear before the Transvaal Provincial Division in Pretoria. Bertha was the only female advocate at the Johannesburg bar and dozens of women came to see her. At the time South

African law stripped women of property ownership, the right to manage their own earnings and the right to vote. Women were considered legal minors and could not open a bank account without their husband’s consent. In the case of divorce a wife had no guardianship rights, and would automatically lose her children under the common law of marriage. Bertha witnessed the suffering imposed on women because of the shortcomings of the law. This led her to pursue her lifelong calling: The journey of enfranchisement for women, and the challenge to change the law to better the lives of women.

She joined the women’s Suffrage Movement until a bill was passed for women to vote in 1930. The bill was a disappointment for Bertha, as it granted voting rights to white women only.

Bertha went on to become the first female Provincial Councillor. She ran for parliamentary election which she won in 1938. Her first role in parliament was the establishment of a soup kitchen in Jeppestown. When the Second World War broke out, she was one of the founders of the South African Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.

Bertha Solomon fought for more than 20 years to pass a bill called the Matrimonial Affairs Bill. It was finally passed in 1953, granting women the rights of property ownership and custody of their children. That year she received a woman of the year award.

The Bertha Solomon Centre in the present-day Jeppestown continues to serve the community of Johannesburg.