Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille dances with women from shelters at a luncheon. Photo taken at Cape Town City Hall on 30 August 2018. By Hlumela Dyantyi.

As Women's Month draws to a close, about 130 vulnerable women living in shelters gathered on Thursday for a luncheon hosted by the Western Cape Women's Shelter Network.

"For the women, this is heaven -- a break for them, for them to let their hair down," said Joy Lange, the executive director for the St Anne's Home in Woodstock, Cape Town.

Around 130 women from 13 shelters across Cape Town gathered for an afternoon's respite at the Cape Town City Hall.

Speaking to Daily Maverick, Lange said over the past five years, women have often faced a triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality, leading them to leave their abusive partners and seek refuge in shelters.

"The shelter is often the last resort and people, women have a negative perception of shelters," said Lange, who has been working at the shelter for more than 10 years. St Anne's takes in women and children, from infants to five years old, for a period of four months.

"Women, when they...