Rachel (Ray) Simons (1914 - 12 September 2004) was a South African communist and trade unionist who helped draft the Women's Charter.
She was born in Latvia as Rachel Alexander and immigrated to Cape Town in 1929. In the 1930s she was active in the communist and trade union movements and was elected a member of the political bureau of the South African Communist Party in 1938.
Ray Simons was instrumental in the formation of the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) and was their first national secretary. She was banned from trade union work in 1953 by the government and in 1965, she and her husband, Jack fled to Lusaka. They returned from exile in 1990. Ray Simons died in Cape Town at the age of 91.
She was awarded the Isitwalandwe Medal in 2004 by the African National Congress.
Famous quotes containing the word rachel:
“If anyone should want to know my name, I am called Leah. And I spend all my time weaving garlands of flowers with my fair hands, to please me when I stand before the mirror; my sister Rachel sits all the day long before her own, and never moves away. She loves to contemplate her lovely eyes; I love to use my hands to adorn myself: her joy is in reflection, mine in act.”
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)