To Strike A Rock - [website] Published: 3rd of Aug 2011 by: Miss Knowitall
It’s August 2011 and we’re in the middle of one of the weirdest winters we’ve ever seen...
... sunny days when we should be up to our knees in rainwater, snow in places it really shouldn’t be – but despite the eerie weather this is a month for celebration.
August is National Women’s Month in South Africa and this year marks the 55th anniversary of the day women from all races and walks of life united and marched to the Union Buildings in protest of the oppressive apartheid laws.
On 9 August 1956 twenty thousand women of all races embarked on one of the biggest demonstrations in South Africa’s history by marching to Pretoria’s Union Buildings with a petition to stop the carrying of passes by women. This represented a turning point in the role of women in the struggle for freedom, democracy and social justice in SA, and since then the expression 'wathint' abafazi, wathint' imbokodo' (You Strike a Woman, You Strike a Rock) has become synonymous with South African women.
Instead of waiting around for someone to help them, waiting for things to change, these women stood up and shouted for what they believed in; and they were heard.
August is a month for all women in South Africa, for all women everywhere, to be proud of being a woman, to celebrate it, and again unite against the injustices some of us are still forced to endure. Whether it be domestic abuse, sexual harassment, sexism, or any number of other wanton acts, it should now be stamped out of our lives for good.
We owe it to the women who made a stand 55 years ago, and we owe it to ourselves.
So instead of thinking that we’ll wait for someone to do something about the poor municipal service, the potholes in the roads, the hungry homeless people around the corner or the rubbish in the streets, we should rather make a stand and do something about it ourselves.
It’s called accountability, and it’s what united those women 55 years ago. So instead of waiting for the world to change, this August we should be the change we want to see, we can make it happen!
