Let their struggle end

TOMORROW is National Women’s Day. According to Wikipedia, it is a South African public holiday celebrated annually on August 9 and commemorates the 1956 march of approximately 20 000 women to the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

They had petitioned against the country’s pass laws that required black people to carry an internal passport, known as a pass, “that served to maintain population segregation, control urbanisation, and manage migrant labour during the apartheid era”, Wikipedia’s explanation reads.

The pass law is long gone. Today people move and live where they like. Women of this country helped make this possible. Many challenges the women of 1956 faced had to do with their dignity and their right to being respected as human beings. Despite freedom of movement and other freedoms, not much has changed for women in South Africa.

They are still locked in a struggle against abuse – a struggle for dignity and respect. Our country has a shocking track record when it comes to rape and abuse. In June, Stats SA reported that the number of women who experienced sexual offences soared from 31 665 in 2015/16 to 70 813 in 2016/17 – a 53% increase.

This is outrageous.

The report also stated: “The 2016/17 SAPS statistics noted 80% of reported sexual offences were rape. Stats SA’s estimates that 68.5% of the victims were women. We obtained a crude estimate of the number of women raped per 100 000 as 138. This figure is among the highest in the world. For this reason, some have labelled South Africa the “rape capital of the world”.

No self-respecting nation can allow a problem so sickening and so big to continue. Marches, demonstrations and protests are in order, but are they enough? Men in this country have some serious introspection to do. Our message to abusive men and rapists is that rape and abuse of women makes you less than a man. It illustrates your dire absence of humanity and a chronic shortage of respect – respect for yourself and others. In short, rape and abuse prove you have no backbone. Real men respect women.

Real men accept that women can be their equal and even better. Without women society can’t function. All this said, to stop this scourge of rape and abuse South Africa needs leadership. The country also needs its men – real men – to step forward and as a collective ensure women are respected.

Let the struggle of women end now.