Hi Winnie, Bye Winnie
- SAQWS
- Jul 10, 2018
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 1, 2018
The death of Mama Winnie, Gender politics & merit - where merit is deserved.
By: Monique Hollis
After the death of Mama Winnie (Winnie Madikizela-Mandela) in April, the nation named her; ‘The Mother of the Nation’
This woman was a veteran who fought fiercely as wife beside former president Nelson Mandela. She was a force to be reckoned with.
Her passing, as one would assume, brought about debates around Women equality in South Africa in 2018. She wrote about her experiences as a leader in the fight against Apartheid and described how much the struggle had changed her life.
"The years of imprisonment hardened me… I no longer have the emotion of fear... There is nothing the government has not done to me. There isn’t any pain I haven’t known."
A Doctor named Catherine Ndinda who works as Chief Research Specialist, released a special, edited issue for Journal of International Women Studies to focus on Women empowerment in the current South African space.
The issue includes an analysis of the multi-layered inequalities our women face in order to discover the discrimination that continues to deny and oppress South African women on the daily.
Topics including land redistribution, poverty & women empowerment. The article presents women as leaders who take hold of opportunities and who play an important role in bringing life to a world built on social, political & economic equality.
See The Doctor’s edited issue via link below.
So I read the article (Volume 19, Issue 5. 2018: Gender, Poverty & Inequality from a Transformative perspective). It highlights 9 August 1950; the day South African women united at the Union Building in Pretoria. If you remember, they stood up against the Apartheid regime – to destroy the Pass Laws.
Women's Day march 1950
Women’s day, from this perspective shows women as powerful and courageous. United as one, hand in hand.
The article describes the division created between South Africans is mostly due to poverty and gender. Living in South Africa, skin color definitely has its stain on stereotypes that ‘black skin means you’re poor'. They forget to mention this stigma, but they do state the importance of using these gross divisions as a tool to unite us as women.
The terms “gender agenda”, “transformation” & “multiplicity” are repeated as if the umbrella theme is supporting women in order to help us understand and accept each other, regardless of social forces that could divide us.
The article describes Mama Winnie’s death as an important event to promote black women empowerment in order to change the current social hierarchy.
Next, I see that, not surprisingly, South Africans are ignoring female credit. As each woman, we are not being given the rewards & credit for our fellow women’s achievements. As a body in society; women are still ignored.
On the bright side, South Africa is still more progressive than USA, UK, Canada & Australia. I’m not sure if that a good thing. But hey, it is something to include in the bigger picture.
To summarize the rest of article; Women face prejudice based on SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity & expression). Expression was used to include disability or race. The various issues that are the consequence of such prejudices are still being ignored.
And even if we magically removed these obstacles, our women could still suffer from abuse from their fellow women. The effects of power dynamics between women in their personal environments (work & home) often results in abuse of power over other women for to ‘get one up’ on their female competition. This leaves women who are most vulnerable, open to attack from the people we would least expect.
Teenage pregnancies features as a major problem due to the assumed support structures which do work (such as family planning services). However the sustained high rate of teen pregnancies suggests cultural influences & poor work ethic of healthcare workers to explain the failing support structures.
Why is this important for Women empowerment? Well, the article describes the cycle that develops as “vicious” and results in increasing poverty & inequality.
See link to the article below:
This Women’s day has been pretty much silent on the social media waves, which is shocking because the death of Mama’s Winnie’s death supposedly had the nation focused on her achievements in the struggle as a woman in South Africa. Maybe the government will pull its socks up and line up the women who have played a role in creating a democratic South Africa. Maybe they will hand out the awards and give credit where its due, but I doubt it. Call me a pessimist.
#SAQWS will be one campaign that won’t stand for this. Women’s day is D-day. And as the queens stood outside Union building in 1950s to protest the pass laws. Every woman who gives a damn, will come out to overcome OUR obstacles.
We will unite.
We will slay.
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