Women’s Month has begun and as a result, our fake concern has taken over, as it always does.
It is the beginning of a month where we will fake concern, love and care for women who on a daily basis go through the most vile abuse from men in this country.
It is the sort of month, which stands in isolation, where we will demand that men stand up and protect women from misogyny. It doesn’t get more ironic than that.
I ask you, what’s the point?
I write this with the words of Nicki Gules in mind where she wrote in her City Press column: ‘Please can we cancel Women’s Day – and Women’s Month, too’. And I am inclined to agree.
For example, the #TheTotalShutdown movement kicked off the month, as if on cue, and while the movement has relevance, it shouldn’t be limited to a day or even a month.
Scores of women took to the streets across the country on 1 August to march against gender-based violence. Photo: Entse Masenya
On cue again was the sad news that Rhodes University (RU) student Khensani Maseko, who was a victim of rape, passed away on the 3rd of this month. She was laid to rest on Women’s Day.
This is a sorry indictment of our shortcomings as men in this country. My privilege as a man means that I may come across as being disingenuous but, for me, it feels as though the more we participate and watch such events, the more hideous we make women’s struggle.
Cancel the grandstanding men, and stop abusing women. It is as simple as that. The abuse women are subjected to is horrific. Don’t get me started with children.
Khensani Maseko died on 3 August. She had been a victim of rape earlier this year. Photo: Khensani Maseko/Instagram
Public figures also perpetuate this cycle of abuse. You need look no further than former ANC MP Mduduzi Manana who, upon feeling the heat from the abuse he dished out to women (including his assault of three women at Cubaña Fourways last September) reversed the roles and played the victim.
The month has degenerated from celebrating the heroines of 1956, to wanting to halt, albeit temporarily, the scourge of abusing women. As a society we have regressed so badly that we should cancel the festivities of the month and find other ways of celebrating the heroines of the 1956 march to the Union Buildings.
And in turn, throughout the year we must fight the abuse women face head on, and this requires the intervention government, non-governmental organisations and society alike.
Cancel the misogynistic rhetoric and don’t take this as an invite to up your game, men, see it as a shout-out to your continued embarrassment.
[infogram id=”d32e430d-2784-46db-8c2e-64fcbdb1c5fe” prefix=”zoB” format=”interactive” title=”Save women – cancel the grandstanding”]