I recently had a conversation with a male friend around the issue of feminism and how feminists play an important role in the community.
He explained that he is against feminism because according to him they come across as a group of women who are angry and use the platform to voice their anger.
I gladly explained to him that feminism is a movement aimed at empowering and fighting for the equal rights of women.
Women have for centuries been forced to take the back seat by accepting abuse at the hands of their loved ones who are meant to protect them.
They are treated as second class citizens who are supposed to take whatever is thrown in their direction without complaining.
But that time is now in the past. Women now know their rights and are empowered and believe in their self -worth.
They no longer need approval from the men in their lives or their worth to be defined.
I told him feminists are angry, sick and tired of the rights of women being violated while some are not even allowed to have a voice.
The feminists’ anger is a reflection of the pain that women go through daily and how they are expected to smile and show-up despite their pain.
They know that their place in society is not only in the kitchen or to make babies, or to build homes and make their spouses happy.
The month of August as a month set aside to celebrate the women of this country who stood up and said enough is enough.These are the women who took over the baton from the women of August 9, 1956 who marched to the Union Buildings to hand over their memorandum against the introduction of the apartheid pass laws for black women.
We salute these strong, intelligent women and if it takes anger for someone to stop and listen, then so be it.
We are human and deserve to be treated as such. Continue being a mbokoto.
We need more women to fight for the future generation of women – a generation that is free and better empowered in a society that is safe.
