Emancipate SA’s men, please

Imay be a big, strong and sometimes stupid man, but I’m a feminist. I love and respect the women in my life because know a life without them would unpleasant and pale. I’m told women are 51% of SA’s population. To me they are everything.

I am blessed with a lot of women in my life. I have two sons. But I also have a mother, a motherin-law, a wife, a daughter, a sister and soon a daughter-in-law.

I know a lot of men consider women to be the inferior gender. Lesser that males. A lot of women allow this belief to define them. They live in the shadow of their male counterparts.

And for that reason, I’m ashamed of my gender.

The honest truth is that women are superior in many regards. Yet so many of us treat them as second-class citizens.

Thousands of South African women suffer violence at the hands of men. They raise their children in poverty because so many men are cowardly running from their responsibilities as fathers. But almost without exception, women will sacrifice themselves for their offspring because love and responsibility is part of their composition.

I’m not a political supporter of President Cyril Ramaphosa, but I salute him for the fact that he has spoken out against gender-based violence on many occasions. Each and every good South African should take a firm stand against this disease, the worst pandemic in human history. And Ramaphosa sets the example.

Gender-based violence creates a vicious cycle where neither women, nor men are able to fulfil their true potential. When gender inequalities are addressed, our entire society benefits.

If we as men can benefit from equality, it is a clear indication of so many of my fellow men’s stupidity that they aren’t invested in fixing the problem while the solution is so simple.

This week, we celebrated Women’s Day. We put one measly day aside to sing the praises of women, while we feel entitled to rape, murder and assault our feminine fellow humans on the other 364 days of the year.

The kinder members of several generations have dedicated themselves to emancipate women. This was a waste of time and energy. Women don’t have to be emancipated. We need to emancipate men – from their own idiocy.