By Tswelopele Makoe
“Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission,” said Eleanor Roosevelt.
And, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela also added: “Men dominate women through the agency of women themselves.”
These meticulous words, uttered by powerful women, should be echoed unrelentingly as we venture into the month of August, our national Women’s Month.
Women’s Day, celebrated on the 9th of August, marks the 68th anniversary of the monumental Women’s March, where over 20 000 women marched to the Union Buildings in protest against the tyrannical pass laws of the ruthless apartheid regime.
The prolific event was led by epoch-making women, such as Albertina Sisulu, Lilian Ngoyi, Ruth Mompati, and Fatima Meer, to name a few.
Women’s Month in South Africa is not only a critical commemoration of the women revolutionaries of South Africa, but also a reminder of the inherent transformation that takes place when women are unified.
It is a reminder of the strength, resilience, contributions and achievements of South Africa’s female revolutionaries, and a chance to reflect on the contentious issues of gender equality, whilst inspiring activism for women’s rights in future female generations.
According to Statistics SA, close to 43% of South African households are female led, many of which are reliant on one single income.
This is worsened by the fact that the Global Gender Gap Report in 2022 showed South African women earning between 23% and 35% less than men doing the same job.
This means that although South African women comprise of over half of the entire population, they still face an array of extensive challenges in their lived realities.
In recent years, the cost of living has continued to skyrocket, whilst the earnings of women have remained the same.
The disparities in livelihoods in South Africa is not only reflected through gender, but also racially concentrated, with the SA Human Rights Commission reporting that less than 1% of whites are considered poor, compared to 64% of blacks, 41% of coloured and 6% of Indians.
The socio-economic inequities rife across our society disproportionately affect black women the worst.
A report published by Social Watch showed that a shocking 71% of black women in South Africa live below the poverty line, with the poorest one-fifth being female-headed households.
This ultimately means that, although we are 30 years into our democracy, black women face the harshest inequalities in our society, in varying forms – socially, systematically, economically, institutionally, and so many more.
The fact is, females living in impoverishment are extensively more vulnerable to various forms of violence and abuses.
The foremost is adequate housing and public services, which are oftentimes corrupted or neglected, particularly in townships, on the outskirts and rural areas.
Public facilities, educational institutions and transportation structures are often dilapidated, leaving those who frequent them vulnerable to criminals and predators.
This leads to exacerbated rates of physical crimes, sexual assault such as rape and sodomy, and human trafficking, which often targets young school-going children.
Poverty also leads to a substantial decrease in access, merely due to financial constraints.
Innumerable South African women, particularly young ones, know the struggles of seeking employment and empowerment when one is already in a precarious situation.
It takes funding and support systems, transportation and internet facilities, in order to hunt for employment.
Furthermore, barriers such as the need to further training, education, continuous access to wi-fi, or the need to advance particular skills such as driving, leaves many demoralised.
Those who are fortunate enough to attain employment face additional challenges that are oftentimes systematic, such as gender biases and discrimination, lack of finances or funding opportunities, and pay inequities, to name a few.
Other women contend with corporate bias or caregiver bias, which leads to women being expected to over-perform for minimal pay, face subconscious judgements and stereotyping, which lead to limitations in opportunities for career advancement and self-development.
The challenges faced by women are not exclusive to outer society, they happen in the home as well.
Lack of resources, support, access to technological resources, and most notably, gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) are rampant in our modern-day society.
More importantly, these challenges affect women of all ages, from infants who are abused, to elderly women who are abused.
This is exemplified in the recent news story of 19-year-old Luluvo (Luvo) Ngqaza, who was arrested and later released, after a video of him beating his grandmother to the ground went viral across social media platforms.
Another story of a young 19-year-old Eastern Cape person, Kungawo Nyhweba, who had been kidnapped and brutally murdered this past month, shone a stark light on the rampant issue of GBVF when police reported that her assailant was her ex-boyfriend.
Horrific stories such as these are pervasive across our society and are increasingly impacting young and younger generations.
It is absolutely devastating that almost five years after President Cyril Ramaphosa had declared GBVF a national pandemic in South Africa, it is still rife in our society.
This shows that the government has deeply undermined the issue of violence against women in our society and has done shockingly little to meaningfully address this crisis.
GBVF is not only an issue that affects individuals, but also the entire society. This leaves children more vulnerable, the elderly more vulnerable, leads to psychological trauma, leads to physical and sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV and Aids.
GBVF is violence, which contravenes the laws and human rights bestowed by our national Constitution. This further leads to an immense weight on our already-strained public systems such as hospitals, jails, and civil service organisations.
We also need to be weary of the discriminations faced by women in our public systems, particularly in educational institutions and in medical arenas. These are often structural, seeking to exclude women due to arbitrary prerequisites and financial constraints.
Other times, they are the result of human biases, where women are refused treatment or are side-lined in dire situations. This can lead to worsened illness, infections, and death.
The maternal death rate, particularly amongst women, is shocking, and is often neglected in the larger rhetoric of equitable and ethical medical care.
There have been countless reports, academic papers and articles on the horrors of public hospitals, particularly for women in South Africa. Countless women experience extensive illnesses and death as a result of apathetic attitudes at public hospitals and clinics.
Hospitals such as Tembisa Hospital, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto and Prince Mshiyeni Hospital in Umlazi, have been widely criticised for their lack of treatment of women, particular in the labour ward.
In recent years, women doctors and nurses have been outspoken about the systemic issues that lead to bad patient care, and that often derive from government corruption and mismanagement.
Ultimately, SA has the best Constitution in the world, and holds great laws in its legislation, however, year after year, our government fails to effectively implement these laws for the betterment of our society.
Laws that should dismantle systemic barriers, that should swiftly punish social deviants and criminals, and that should also protect the most vulnerable citizens are blatantly ignored.
It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that our society is protected, secure, and advancing in accordance with the needs of the people.
The foremothers and forefathers of South Africa did not sacrifice their lives so that modern-day South African women, especially women of colour, may live as second-class citizens in their own country.
They are deserving of the human rights, opportunities, and dignities that are enshrined in our Constitution.
Despite these challenges, SA women continue to break the glass ceiling. This is seen through the expansion of women Vice-Chancellors at our universities, the expansion of female leadership in technology, finance and scientific industries, and more female leadership in sports and cultural development.
We have also seen the rapid growth of women in our film and media industry, in all sectors - from documentary and film-making to radio and television presenters, to women-led cooking shows and talk shows.
Popular television productions such as The River and Queen Modjadji have spotlighted prolific female characters and reflected the impact and centrality of women in indigenous African cultures.
These productions are but a few that has accentuated the importance of women in our society and have drawn on our own society and heritage in order to emulate this fact.
From Cape to Cairo, African culture is riddled with matriarchs. Inherently, African culture calls for all generations of women to play a significant role, not only in their household, but in their society.
We are born to contribute to the growth of humanity, and the advancement of our people.
Women are critical to the advancement of our individual and collective societal values. Women have shown that they will inherently stratify, lead, and empower within the spaces that they occupy.
This women’s month, my hope is that we highlight the significance of women in our society. Additionally, we educate various generations of young women on their inherent power, and we reflect on the triumphs of the women of the past in advocating for a stronger today, and the future that we want to see.
As eloquently said by our national treasure and former Miss Universe, Zozibini Tunzi: “We should be teaching young girls to take up space. Nothing is as important as taking up space in society and cementing yourself."
* Tswelopele Makoe is a Gender & Social Justice Activist and the Editor at Global South Media Network. She is a Researcher and Columnist, published weekly in the Sunday Independent, Independent Online (IOL), Global South Media Network (GSMN), Sunday Tribune and eSwatini Daily News. She is also an Andrew W. Mellon scholar, pursuing an MA Ethics at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, UWC. The views expressed are her own.