Are we worthy of celebrating Women’s month ?

 The 1956 women wanted freedom of movement, freedom to exist, but the woman of today is still fighting the same battle if not worse.

According to SA Medical Research Council, every 8 hours a woman is killed by their intimate partner. Stats SA has its own gloomy news, one in five women in a relationship have experienced violence by their partner. 40% of today’s global workforce is women but women only hold up 5% of global Chief Executive Positions. The story doesn’t end there, of all Top 40 JSE listed Companies only one organisation has a female Chief Executive. This happens despite findings by Gerald Seegers, PwC Director for Human Resources Services, Southern Africa that research shows that there is a strong correlation between financial performance and the participation of women on boards. This therefore means there is merit in having more women leading.

To be honest one should never have to make a case for women leadership from a simple premise that all most every household is led by a woman, every single leader you will meet was born of a woman and has had leadership and influence of a woman. It therefore is baffling that most sacred, powerful, nurturing people on earth still end up being the ones abused, raped, under paid and undervalued. Is it not then truly fair to say we are not worthy to celebrate the strength of woman as a nation simply because we do not contribute to strengthening them further but rather consistently break their core?

I would like everyone male, female, gender non-conforming to reflect on how we treat women in our households, communities and work environments. What are we doing well, what needs to improve, what are the timelines for those improvements? There are a myriad of issues to tackle, domestic violence, femicide, rape, sexual harassment in the workplace, remuneration, leadership development and succession planning of women, breaking the role norms in work place, which one will you advocate and serve as change agent for.

I also have to call out women themselves, we need to work together as the women community, we need to support each other and build one another. We need to be our own cheerleaders. The unity of 1956 women is what earned us the right to walk freely without passports, what legacy are we going to leave for upcoming women, what are we going to unite to address as women and how are we going to maintain our worth, enjoy our freedom, stand up for what we believe regardless of the mammoth of challenges we face every day to silence us.

 I hold a view that of the magnificence that beguiles the world, women still remains the most amazing of species. Let us support the rocks that form the foundation, the essence of our existence, households and communities