POLOKWANE – The primitive suppression of feminist perspectives has taken a new shape over the years in many parts of the world.
While government laws help to reduce their blatant violation, it is clearer now that proven capacities to make the money, build their careers, family, communities or whichever thing they desire – the free expression of women is still being frowned upon, especially in male dominated spaces like decision-making tables.
This is according to politician, Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya who among other roles is the MEC for Education in Limpopo and a municipal councillor in Vhembe and Makhado for over two decades.
For Women’s Day, the Polokwane Observer sat with the political female leader from Limpopo where she shared her views and aspirations for women in the province she serves.
Lerule-Ramakhanya expressed worry that the excellence of women, at times, stems from having to do the work and then re-check it, only on the basis of proving their worth to nay-sayer’s, who in her words “expect women to only decorate the room and not have compelling abilities.”
“If you are insistent, you get raped, killed or even sidelined somehow with the intention to deem your light as a woman. From there, you face esteem challenges and are forced to conform to standards that are less and sometimes even more than who you are, against your desires,” she explained.
“However, identifying a passion and sticking to the standards that I conform to equate how much I value myself and that has helped me become the person that I am. I am simply me even in humbling situations,” she revealed.
She said this while recounting a move in her political career that called for her move from a provincial committee to branch level.
Her face lit up when she concluded that she liked making oxtail because it is considered difficult to navigate when in her favourite room – the kitchen.
Lerule- Ramakhanya grew through the ranks from the Youth League, including serving as MEC for other portfolios.
Open to the question of her next career move, the ANC Provincial Executive Member made it clear that she did not harbour ambitions to reach national politics anytime soon because she still felt “young politically”.
She noted and condemned the harrowing degradation of women on social media by some users which she assumes distort personal identity, cause peer-pressure and esteem issues.
“For example, I do not wear thin high-heels, they make me feel uncomfortable because I weigh 70kg. But, I do not force the discomfort that does not serve me to out of pressure to please others by wearing it. I wear block heels, wear skirts, dresses and other things because I like them, I want them and make them fashionable, without feeling any pressure. I advise other women to follow what they truly desire not what the social norms expect,” she concluded.
