What does Women’s Day stand for 66 years after that historic march to the Union Buildings in 1956? Kim Stephens points out what this day should be in 2022… and how we can all be part of a positive change!
Western Cape, South Africa (08 August 2022) – Women’s Day in South Africa marks the anniversary of the great women’s march of 1956, where women marched to the Union Buildings to protest against carrying passbooks.
On the 9th of August 1956, over 20,000 women from diverse backgrounds marched together to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against legislation aimed at tightening the apartheid government’s control over the movement of black women in urban areas.
But what does Women’s Day stand for 66 years after that historic march? Kim Stephens points out what this day should be in 2022… and how we can all be part of a positive change.
Women’s Day in 2022.
How do you become part of the change?
Support women-run businesses. Employ, and pay equally, women.
Ease the mental load of the women in your home or life by assisting with the things that are thrown at us as easily as cat-calls… Things like grocery shopping, meal planning, kids’ homework, and housework.
Stop cat-calling. Call out any men that do. Same goes for derogatory jokes, sexist assumptions, sexual innuendo. Consent is EVERYTHING. Teach your sons.
Accommodate the special requests of single mothers. Get a creche set up at the office. Allow more work from home agreements. Change her working hours so that she can start earlier and make it to school collection – aftercare is expensive, and au pairs cost more than the vast majority can afford. Nearly half of South African children live without their biological fathers. Our maintenance courts are heaving.
Quit victim shaming. She was raped when under the influence? She was raped, full stop. She was raped whilst wearing revealing clothing? She was raped. Full stop. Our rape statistics are astronomical.
She wants children, she doesn’t want children, is trying to become a mother, is choosing surrogacy, has had her third accidental pregnancy, she chooses abortion, she chooses to birth and raise a child with massive disabilities, she adopts, she gives a child up for adoption, she breastfeeds for two years, she chooses formula, she births naturally, she chooses a c-section… none of your business. Support and celebrate her choices, or say nothing at all. Her body, her choices, are not your choices.
She gains weight, she builds muscle, she loses weight, she shaves her legs, she chooses not to remove hair, she dyes her grey, she chooses grey, she buys new boobs, she goes bra-free, she tattoos half her body. Support and celebrate her choices, or say nothing at all. Her choices are not your choices.
Assume nothing. Understand that we are way off true equality. Accept that gender-based violence against women is a crisis that cannot be ignored.
Raise better men, protect fellow women. Empower your daughters.
Be the safe place.
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