Women’s Day: Dignity, not diamonds

IF the marketers are to be believed, South Africa’s Women’s Day on August 9 is most suitably celebrated by buying women flowers, chocolates or diamonds to show men’s appreciation (and fill corporate coffers, of course).

This notion subverts the point of the holiday. It is not a day for banal (though probably well-intended) gestures to celebrate the traditional roles of women in society, as the marketers would have it. The holiday observes the contribution of women to society and their aspiration to attain social equality.

The holiday issues a call on women to mobilise against their marginalisation, as did the brave women who marched to Pretoria’s Union Buildings in 1956 to protest against the Pass Law. This endeavour is not aided by a bunch of roses.

The holiday also calls on men to fully embrace the notion of an equality of the sexes. In rampantly patriarchal South Africa, the day is not yet gone when men (and not a few women) believe that the female belongs, as the cliché has it, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

The truth is that most South African women are suppressed by individual men and by society. They are discriminated against economically, sexually and even politically.

South African men are among the world’s worst perpetrators of sexual violence against women. South Africa cannot claim to respect its women when rape remains endemic, when women are molested for their sense of fashion, when some are violated and even murdered because of their sexual orientation, and when a presumptive presidential candidate can publicly state that a women’s style of dress gives him licence to commit adultery—and his supporters (including many women) condemn her.
Women cannot be said to be enjoying freedom when they suffer disproportionately from poverty-related diseases and malnutrition, compounded by often inadequate health care.

On paper, South Africa is in good shape as far as women’s rights are concerned. The Constitution demands that all South Africans be treated equally, and progressive legislation aims at gender parity. However, it is an ideal South Africa has yet to achieve.

We must not be deceived by the commendable advancement of women in parliament, in government and, to some extent, in business. South African women are not yet experiencing a social renaissance.

Indeed, it may be argued that women in powerful positions are held to a higher standard than their male counterparts. Unworthy of plaudits as the accomplishments of, say, health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang are, the criticism directed at her often assumes misogynist proportions. Her colleague in the safety and security portfolio, Charles Nqakula, is arguably no more competent than Dr Tshabalala-Msimang, and no less arrogant, yet the public’s bile is not as fervently directed at him as it is at the health minister.

The Catholic Church itself has yet to take a definitive lead in eliminating old prejudices. Is there a good reason why the Knights of da Gama or the gentlemen of the Society of St Vincent de Paul cannot make the tea at parish events? Flippancy aside, too few parish pastoral councils are being chaired by women; often it is taken for granted that the leading positions should be occupied by men. It is encouraging, then, that in Sr Hermenegild Makoro CPS the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference has a female associate secretary-general (the second nun to occupy an official position in the bishops’ secretariat), and several departments are managed by women.

For Women’s Day, don’t give women a rose or a vacuous speech — give her a job, a fair salary, equal access to opportunities and health care, and primacy over her own sexuality.