Reflects experience

THE opinion pieces of Nwabisa Makunga (“Ashwin’s moment our story”, May 23) and Jonathan Jansen (“A teachable moment for SA”, May 24) are spot on.

Were you to change the words “race” to “gender” it would reflect exactly my own experiences, as a woman, in the world of work and beyond.

Although my black and white sisters were burning their bras in the 1960s it took until the 1990s, when political change was inevitable, for South African women to be placed on the same salary scale as men.

We were well aware of “male privilege” when we entered the hallowed halls of committee meetings and boardrooms.

We were never made to forget we were “tokens” and all that came with the appellation.

All along, we encountered, as Makunga has so aptly put it, “is that racism [in our case genderism] manifests itself both in overt and insidious forms”.

When we had “Ashwin moments” and expressed feelings of being disrespected and trivialised, we too were chided “that our experience of discrimination is simply a misunderstanding of how things work or worse a figment of our imagination”.

Even now, as statistics of Hollywood salaries and boardroom representation are aired, we woman remain “quotas”.

I am confident to predict that in my lifetime, Ashwin Willemse will attain parity, in all aspects of our society. I am equally confident to predict that during Willemse’s longer lifetime, the situation for South African women will remain unchanged.

E S G, Canon Rocks