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I remember as a child going with my mother to register our domestic worker for a pass book. Two women and a child going to a place far from home to wait in a queue to deal with men behind counters who told us what to do and who represented a violent system. This would have been in the early 1970s, almost 15 years after women protested the pass laws in their march to the Union Buildings in 1956. Now we have a day to celebrate those women and everyone seems to have forgotten that protesting against structural violence was what their march was all about. This is what we should never forget: that we were a country that deliberately oppressed people, restricting their movements and keeping them from their own power.<\/p>\n
Today the oppression of women and of poor women in particular continues. We may not be able to say that it is entrenched in our laws the way the apartheid system was but I worry that Women\u2019s Day actually becomes a way to forget, to hide from and to obscure the very real issues that we face today. In an atmosphere of celebration it seems wrong to stand up like the evil fairy at the princess\u2019s birthday party and say, \u201cWe are not free.\u201d To invade the corporate pamper day and say, \u201cOur rape statistics are some of the highest in the world. This needs to change.\u201d To stand on the platform at the ceremony to honour women\u2019s achievements and say, \u201cWhat have we not achieved?\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the effects of this watering down of the real issues is that the public forget about the individuals, organisations and communities that do deal with the reality of rape and violence against women every day. Everyone wishes the ugly problem would simply go away. Let\u2019s not taint the celebration with doom and gloom. Also of course, let\u2019s not leave men out. I\u2019ve heard so many people say, \u201cWhy don\u2019t we have a Men\u2019s Day?\u201d as though this were the commercial opportunity of Valentine\u2019s Day, Mother\u2019s Day or Father\u2019s Day. And then there is the lure of the dream, \u201cLet\u2019s find the solution to this scourge and move forward.\u201d I would like to find that solution. I fear it may just be a dream.<\/p>\n
At the Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust we are certainly not in the business of chasing dreams. We don\u2019t have the time. We don\u2019t have the people. We don\u2019t have the money. What we do have are a group of extraordinarily committed women who work every day to make sure that change happens. The change that one woman makes when she comes out of a counselling session and says to herself, \u201cIt was not my fault. I did not deserve this.\u201d She sees that she can heal. Or the change that a group of peer educators make when they stand in front of the assembled teachers and learners of their school and say, \u201cDon\u2019t be ashamed to report rape. You were not to blame even if you were wearing a short skirt on that day. A skirt is not an invitation to commit a crime.\u201d They see that they can change the hearts and minds of others. Or the change that a government makes when it drafts a law that says it will empower the victims of crime with information, with counselling, with a proper tracking system for cases in the justice system and with joint planning between government departments to ensure well coordinated, cost effective services. It sees that it can provide a deterrent.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s Day is a day to commemorate. To remember and to show respect. This need not be without celebration but that celebration should include an action that gives tribute and that ties the past to the present in service of the future. Otherwise it is just another holiday or an opportunity to commodify women. Join us as we march from St George\u2019s Cathedral to the Artscape Theatre on Saturday 9 August 2014 at 9.30am but don\u2019t let it stop there. Take your #mydoekselfie every Friday and share it with your friends on Facebook but don\u2019t let it stop there. Make your own extraordinary commitment. It is not for me to say what that should be but let it be something that moves you, something that allows you to change. To change in a way that frees you and a woman that you know. Something that makes her feel safer, more respected, better supported and more free to make her own choices and decisions. Don\u2019t hide. Speak out. Make just one change.<\/p>\n
(This is part of a collaboration between Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust and Women In and Beyond the Global. The original can be found here<\/a>. Thanks to Kathleen Dey and all the staff and volunteers at Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust for their great and urgent work.)<\/p>\n