@SexismMustFall – let’s get it going

The struggle against racism and poor government has overshadowed the vital question of women’s rights

A FRIEND of mine took me to task last week for the last two columns I had written.

One column was in support of Tanzania’s new President John Magufuli’s style of leadership and excused his faux pas pertaining to his banning miniskirts in his country on the basis that they somehow caused the increase in the spread of HIV.

The second related to the Uthukela municipality that used virginity as criterion for qualifying for a council bursary scheme.

The Tanzanian Department of Foreign Affairs has since denied that such a ban was announced. The municipality has also made a U-turn and decided to think their plan a little more carefully. But that was not her point.

My friend’s complaint was that in both instances, I had failed to recognise the anti-women sexism inherent in both stories.

She thought that by excusing Magufuli because he is a disciplined and efficient technocrat and by justifying the municipality’s good intentions, I had congratulated them for infringing on the rights of women and children. I think she has a valid point. I certainly would not have praised or justified an effective politician or well-meaning government that thought that black people’s rights were worth riding roughshod over.

In fact, many of those who seek to justify apartheid tend to point to the apparent “law and order” during the era, but not the draconian measures used to maintain this order.

It must therefore be equally unacceptable to accommodate discrimination based on sex as I would if it were based on skin colour, even if the one discriminating and infringing on the rights of women and girls claimed noble intentions.

In the cauldron of the struggle against racism and bad governance, women’s rights have continued to take a back seat.

It is as if the misogyny and sexism we witness every day will automatically be taken care of if we had good governance.

With the development of the theory of intersectionality, with regards to sexism against women, it has taught us that it is not linear.

Ecosystem

It is part of an ecosystem that touches on all other areas of women’s life such as their class, where they happen to be born, sexual orientation, life opportunities and so on.

To tackle one and not the other is to kick the proverbial can down the road. Besides, South Africans have long understood, have long come to appreciate that freedom is indivisible. We have long appreciated that freedom for some is freedom for none.

South Africans must change tack and stop the general tendency to relegate anti-sexism to a minor struggle or an issue for those who choose to label themselves feminists. Anti-sexism mainstream.

We have seen #FeesMustFall, #ZumaMustFall, #RhodesMustFall marches and activism; we have seen South Africans take to the streets in protest against levels of unemployment, against racism.

We have seen campaigns to save the rhino and banners and hashtags on almost every item imaginable, but I cannot recall a campaign to exorcise the demon of anti-women sexism from our society.

Anti-women and girls practices occur all around us.

They happen in cultural practices such as when young girls are abducted in the name of ukuthwala; in religious organisations, too.

I have never heard of the charlatan pastors who indecently touch women’s private parts claiming to bestow heavenly blessings on these body parts, doing the same for male congregants.

Sometimes the sexism wears a friendly face, even though it is still unwelcome.

It is common practice in South Africa to arbitrarily link professional women’s abilities to their looks. It is common to read about the “petite but powerful” businesswoman or politician, or the “youthful mother of two” when neither age nor parenting are at issue.

Women who partake in what are traditionally male-dominated sporting

must

become events such as football and rugby must necessarily have to explain their own sexuality – as if there is a right or wrong answer to the question.

Even when sexism is at face value against men, such as when they are depicted as bumbling fools in the home, this is most often about how men are not able to perform “women’s duties” such as being unable to take care of children or find their way in the kitchen or the home.

In that way, it perpetuates the idea that it is women who should be working around the home while men watch sport and drink beer.

Fighting against sexism and for the fair treatment of women and girls is no less for a human right as fighting against the unfair discrimination against homosexuals, people with albinism or any of the obviously outdated bases of discrimination.

It is about creating a society where all of us, regardless of what we might be, feel we have a fair and equal chance of living fulfilled lives as our talents and efforts allow us.

It is for that reason that I am sorry for being flippant with regard to the sexism against women and girls.

I am looking forward to #SexismMustFall, and an attitude in our everyday lives that takes us to the hashtag being true.