Women’s Day 2020 – My Thoughts
I have always known August to be a month when we celebrate women in South Africa. I got to learn over time the significance of the month of August and the day of the 9th in particular as Women’s Day.
So why celebrate South African Women?
“The 9th of August – Women’s Day – commemorates the 1956 march of a large group of women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country’s pass laws that required South Africans defined as “black” under The Population Registration Act to carry an internal passport, known as a pass, that served to maintain population “. It was during this march that this slogan was coined “wathinta abafazi ,wathinta imbokodo”. “You strike a woman you strike a rock” The truth is the slogan cannot be accurately translated.
The law that declares the 9th of August as Women’s Day was passed 2007.
But have we evolved as a nation to treat a women as equals?
- I certainly don’t think so, as a woman working in a male-dominated field (opthalmology) I have felt side-lined by some male colleagues (not all). Men still greet each other and shake each other hands in meetings, some look past you as if you are not in the room. Men respect each other.
- A young bloke once left my practice without settling his account. He point blank refused and he argued he still had the eyelid lump he walked into the office with . I doubt a male colleague would have had their authority undermined to that magnitude .
- I have been personally questioned about my clinical findings once or twice, I often wonder if a middle-age male with grey temples faces the same hurdles.
- Falling pregnant and taking maternity leave is still frowned upon in big cooperation’s and considered disruptive that was certainly the case during my specialist training . I am hoping the medical fraternity has evolved in this aspect
- I have met a handful of female train drivers ,a young lady who is bricklayer and this really excited me but where are all the females in the position of power? Are we not producing enough females from institutions of higher learning?
- Some of my patients are still shocked that I am female but my name is not gender-specific, which I find hilarious.
- I can go on and on about social gender inequalities entrenched in a social- deficient mileau of our society.
On gender based violence
- We have experienced a wave of brutality against women of all ages in recent times. Toxic masculinity is a disease perpetuated by society and culture in some instances.
- As a society we need to empower a girl child about who she is and help her understand her sense of worth. We on the hand need to teach a boy child to be protective , nurturing and tell him that yes, men do cry.
My message this Women’s Day
- Today I celebrate and honor the women in my nuclear family and extended family who have made it easier for our generation(and shielded our fragile psyche from what we didn’t know). The challenge is to carry the baton with pride and pass it down to the next generation by producing more female leaders. We have made progress over centuries but there is a large room for improvement.
- We need to continue to teach and model gender equality in our own families, rid our communities of social ills, and enjoy our beautiful countrymen and women as intended.