Women’s Day celebrations out of touch with reality on the ground

Someone asked me why the women of my generation find no joy in celebrating Women’s Day. My answer was simple: this country that celebrates Women’s Day on 9 August, elects to neglect our right to remain alive, to rule over our bodies and, more importantly, plays as decorative figureheads in the political and economic sectors.

This is a country that does not care about women but wants to celebrate them, just because it is another box ticked off – but my generation is tired of “just because” – we demand tangible action.

With the current Covid restrictions, we were thankfully spared those women empowerment events organised by women so out of touch with the reality on the ground.

You have to pay exorbitant prices that the masses can’t afford to attend seminars about “juggling work, home and self in the modern society”. But they forget most women are fighting for basic employment to put food on the table and play musical chairs in family courts for basic maintenance.

In rural homesteads, women have come to accept patriarchy that leads to rapes, murder, femicide… but the mbokodo grinders will remind us yearly to “Aspire to Inspire”.

And at these events, so far removed from us, the people, there is always some keynote speaker – a man who speaks of the strength of women…

Make it stop! What does he know about a mother or grandmother holding together a family unit under the most extreme circumstances? Grandmothers who gave up personal ambitions because “a good wife must…”

As far as we, as women, have come, we are still fighting for our lives; we are still shockingly behind: still not equal, still victims because of our genetic makeup. We work 10 times harder, but are unfairly underpaid. So we are required to fight and will carry on fighting because we have no other choice…

I cannot understand why yearly, we celebrate that we have to continue to overcome adversity in order for our value to be seen.

Change the systematic injustice that require this, then we can celebrate the women fairly.