Opinion - WOMEN. We are beautiful, we are brilliant, we are brave, we are delicate, committed, and passionate.
We love to love and we give our heart and soul to the people we hold dear.
When we are hurt, we spit fire, we show our vengeance, and we rain fury on our perpetrators. We are strong, we are captivating and we are worth it.
As we enter the month that aims to celebrate women, let us not only celebrate the people who stand on platforms and tell the world about who they are and what they do.
Let us also celebrate women who daily go unnoticed but are holding it down for their families and their loved ones.
Let us celebrate the gogo who stands on the street corner selling sweets, so she can put food on the table for the children who have been abandoned by their parents.
Let us salute the single mothers, who silently keep going, who are the breadwinners of their homes, and who do the best possible job for their family even though they are exhausted physically and mentally.
Let us applaud the women who teach their sons that violence is never an option and beating, sexualising or disrespecting women is never okay.
Let us bend the knee to those who work in male-dominated companies and still command the room with esteem and grace.
Also, let us never forget why August became known as Women’s Month.
Almost 63 years ago, about 20000 strong, brave women of all races marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the apartheid government.
They spoke in one voice to make a difference. They marched for the termination of pass laws that required South Africans defined as “black” to carry a document, known as a pass.
The pass served to maintain segregation, control urbanisation, and manage migrant labour during apartheid.
The march was lead by Rahima Moosa, Helen Joseph, Sophy Williams, and Lilian Ngoyi. Many freedom songs were sung on that day, with one of the most famous songs including the words: “When you strike a woman, you strike a rock.”
They also stood in collective silence for 30 minutes.
August, 9, 1994, was subsequently the first National Women’s Day in commemoration of these courageous women.
As we remember their bravery, let us try to follow suit by making a positive difference with our voices.
Instead of holding luncheons for a day, where we sit around a table making small talk and taking selfies for an hour or two, let us for the month of August strive to empower each other.
Be it with a kind word, or a kind gesture.
So often, women are guilty of tearing each other down for self-enjoyment.
We assume we know who they are and what they are dealing with.
Statements like: “She wears too much make-up”, “she put on weight”, “she’s too dark”, “she talks too much”, “she’s not a good mother”, or “she’s not a good wife”, flow from our mouths, waiting for those around us to lap it up.
Maybe we say it to a group of friends when she’s not there or to a colleague, a family member or even our husbands.
I was with a group of females recently, who never had a good word to say about any of the women I assumed were their friends.
They even had nicknames for them.
My husband later told me he worried that they were saying the same nasty things about me behind my back.
Sometimes we say it to cover up our own insecurities, or to make us look “cool” or to make us feel better about our own lives.
Whatever the reason, it needs to stop and it needs to stop now.
We never know what battles that person might be facing.
Words hurt and they cut deeply.
A close friend recently said: “Be the woman who fixes another woman’s crown without telling the world it is broken.”
These words are simple but so applicable in the world we live in today.
Instead of feeling the need to compete with every woman you meet, try to compete with yourself. Aim to be the best possible version of you.
Happy Women’s Month ladies and remember, when we support each other, incredible things happen