“Women are the victims of this patriarchal culture, but they are also its carriers. Let us keep in mind that every oppressive man was raised in the confines of his mother’s home”. – Shirin Ebadi

Patriarchy decided to play nice on the 9^th of August, it decided to act as if it cares about equality and woman’s rights!

It gave women a day, out of the 365 that it already owns! And boy, we women were glad that it played nice! *Don’t know what Beyonce means when she says girls run the world, anyway! Another issue for another day*

See, I never paid much attention to women’s day before *that’s what ignorance will do!* It was just a day that we women deserved and earned?! Right? I mean we are special, we give birth to nations *and all the other bullshit I can add, yada yada! Yawn really*

We can go on and on about so many accomplishments of women, equality and shit but we WERE GIVEN a month and a day! Out of the twelve months, WE WERE GIVEN A MONTH! *please let that sink in and stew on it* It’s the same mentality that they used when they gave our forefathers mirrors for lands….they knew that people get caught up in the little things and miss the details, for it is all in the details! A MALE DOMINATING SYSTEM decided to give women a month! For us to be happy and proud to be female! For us to be distracted from fighting for our equal rights and pay and everything! They decided……*I wonder how many women were in the boardroom or wherever they were when the geniuses came with this one* Take this for instance, during the said month, Oscar Murdering Pistorius was up for parole! mmh….This was decided ages ago, that on August, Oscar will be up for parole! Now here is the kicker, when the chap’s time to come out and go on house arrest *As if he is not on holiday already, for killing a woman* they decided he can’t go coz it’s women’s month and the Progressive Women’s Movement of South Africa said he can’t be released on such a sacred month! *YAWN*

This should be a good thing, right?! That on women’s day, women’s issues were heard! But that’s just it….Why do we need a month for right to be done?  Liz Giles, advocacy and communications manager at the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, said the focus on the objection of the Progressive Women’s Movement of South Africa to Pistorius’s release during Women’s Month distracts from more important “point of law” issues.  “There are questions that require answering around not only… the Parole Board’s decision… but also the nature and timing of the Minister of Justice’s intervention. The women of South Africa need a legal system that functions and adheres to the mandate under which it is constituted without bias or preference, 365 days of the year,” The thing with patriarchy it plays by its own rules and just humours women! And the problem with this, is, we women allow it! We get sold trinkets and we buy them!
According to the South African Revenue services, women earn nearly a third less than men on average! In 2013, the average taxable income for women was R193 908 a year, or about R16 000 a month. Men earned on average R254 347 a year, or about R21 000 a month.

While we at this, do you know that in SA a woman is either raped or battered every four minutes? This saddens me, for all these things are done by our sons! Where are we going wrong in moulding them? How did we get to a point where every boy that has been birthed by a woman can do these unspeakable things to women? As a mother of a boy child and girl child I worry, I worry for my kids! I worry for my son whom society will want to mirror him into some man I don’t recognize or want for my son, he will be told that men can’t cry *coz he is not human right! And has no emotions akere* he will be told that his duty is to ensure that he provides financially for his woman and if he doesn’t he is not man enough! He will be taught toughness as the first point of manhood and everything else he will be soft, the problem with teachings like this is, we lose our sons along the process! How else do they show their bottled emotions if not through rage?! *for if they show any sensitivity, they get labelled weak* Patriarchy is not only destroying our daughters but our sons too! I WEEP FOR OUR SONS!

I weep for my daughter, who is going to be told that she is less of cos she was born female! I weep for my daughter, who will be told to be who she is but only if she bends to her man or the men in her life’s will…..
See, the problem is, in my house, at home my kids will know right and wrong when it comes to engaging with the sexes, my son will know that he can cry too and it’s okay to feel sad, he will be expected to wash dishes and help out with household chores, my daughter will know not to depend on maleness for strength! She will know that by herself she is capable but we unfortunately do not live in a vacuum and therein lies my contention! We live in a world where patriarchy rules and it’s a problem….. For patriarchy does no-one any good, why keep it? Why are we still working within its confines? Why do women still abide by it? And why do men? This affects your daughters!

Article  by Nthabiseng Lucia Tselapedi

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