Febe Potgieter
International Women’s Day was born out of the struggles of working women for equal pay, for equal work, and for full social, economic and political rights. It was first celebrated in 1911, a centenary ago, and the issues women struggled for – equal work for equal pay, the need to recognise women’s rights as human rights – are as relevant today as then.
The celebrations of International Women’s Day each year acknowledge achievements made and the challenges still remaining towards a truly inclusive, equal and non-sexist society and world.
Women in the overwhelming majority of the world’s countries have gained the vote, which the early suffragettes fought for. In many parts of the world, the demands of working women for maternity leave are recognised, though much more can be done.
Women of all classes have opened the doors to many forms of work and professions previously denied to them, but the glass ceilings remain.
However, the elusive goal of equal pay for equal work, the gender pay gap, remains persistent in nearly all countries in the world.
And women’s unpaid labour – caring for families, bearing and rearing children, looking after the sick and the disabled – are still not counted nor valued as part of the social reproduction of societies. It is still deliberately and consciously excluded from countries and the world’s gross domestic products (GDP).
Most devastating, women’s bodies are still battle grounds of power, as gender-based violence continues unabated, as rape and sexual violence continue to be used as weapons of war and conflict, as assaults on the reproductive rights of women persists, as sexual harassment in workplaces and educational institutions endures, and as girls continue to be treated as of lesser value than boys.
2021 the Year of Charlotte Maxeke
South Africa celebrates 2021 as the Year of Charlotte Maxeke, one of many examples of the pioneering contributions of women, that are simply excluded from history.
But, like the working women who struggled and carried on, while raising and supporting families, she persevered.
The first black woman with a BSc degree, Charlotte Mannye Maxeke went on to lead struggles against pass laws, organised domestic and farm workers, advised monarchs and chieftains, built churches and schools, and wrote and spoke about the plight of her people, and the plight of women and children.
One hundred and fifty years since her birth, we choose to challenge, by remembering her, and the many Africans/heroes that history conveniently forgot: Nokutela Mdima Dube and Cissie Gool, Sarraounia Mangou and Taytu Betu, Phila Ndwandwe and Nokhutela Simelane, Njinga Mbandi, Lillian Diedericks and Florence Moposho, Emma Mashinini, Wangari Maathai, Sister Bernard Ncube, Victoria Mxenge, Helen Joseph, Ellen Kuzwayo, Albertina Nonsikilelo Sisulu, Mildred Lesia, Francis Baard, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Miriam Makeba, Ruth First, Gisèle Rabesahala, Ida Mntwana, Josie Palmer Mpama and Liz Abrahamse, Rebecca Kotane, Bibi Titi Mohamed, Winnie Madikizela Mandela, and many, many others on whose shoulders we stand today.
#ChoosetoChallenge
The global theme for International Women’s Day is #ChoosetoChallenge.
Across Africa, the world, and in South Africa, gender and women activists and groups are organising activities to celebrate women’s achievements, raise awareness, influence behaviour, smash stereotypes and challenging biases, and lobby and advocate for change.
A 2019 report by the World Economic Forum estimated that at the current rate of change in the world, it will be another 257 years before women achieve equal pay for equal work. Over two and a half centuries!
In the era of the Covid-19, women also disproportionately bear the burden of care work, even more so than in “normal” times.
In a January edition, Forbes news led with the headline: “The future is female and so are the job losses”; just one of many reports on how in the pandemic jobs bloodbath, women are also more likely to lose their jobs.
South Africa is no exception, with more women losing their jobs during the initial lockdowns last year, and recovering their jobs at a much slower rates than men, according to the most recent NIDS-CRAM survey.
The national focus on gender-based violence and femicide, and the growing Men as Partners movement, have seen greater awareness, advocacy and calls for behaviour change to stop this scourge.
However, like the pay gap between the genders, it remains a stubbornly persistent fact of life for women and children.
The recent qualitative study on gender-based violence done by Comparisure exposed the harsh reality of the impact on women’s daily lives, with 52% of the women interviewed revealing that they currently feel anxious and nervous around their partners, and sizeable percentages were either being isolated from their families by a partner or, have been threatened with harm by their partner.
As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we must all choose to challenge the patriarchal system that not only excludes and undervalues women and girls, but directly contribute and condone the violence against them.
Women have always chosen to challenge. It’s time men choose to challenge too.