A selection of quotes served up as food for thought this Women’s Day

Today women around South Africa celebrate Women’s Day, a day that serves as a tribute to those who, decades ago in 1956, stood up and protested against the Pass Laws for women that were to be extended in a historic uprising.

It was a hallmark event that fought against two barriers. It’s often been said that women, especially women of colour, have always been at the crossroads of two oppressive regimes. Fighting for equality is one thing, but when you’re fighting your own gender for racial equality as well as men for a place in society, the matter becomes something heavier entirely.

Fast forward to the present, and many women have banded together. However, in the wake of crimes on the rise against women, particularly the recent incident that sent shockwaves across the nation where multiple young women suffered sexual assault and violence in Westville, many of us may feel a sense of unified cynicism.

In the past few years especially, I’ve shared multiple conversations with close female friends who had admitted the same outlook.

I  found myself mulling over this point, still wondering how our collective dream as women is to walk alone on a street in the evening without an itch of worry.

I relish in the achievements of so many of our women. We are gold medallists, entrepreneurs, game changers and brave hearts. But the reality is that no matter how successful or commendable we are, we’re all on the same playing field. I can’t sing those praises enough. But the safety aspect of our disposition is, quite frankly, outdated.

Then I remembered something I had allowed the anxiety of the current day and age to overshadow. Women’s Day is also about celebrating what could be, and what will be.

Like the women who marched back in the 50s, we don’t know what the future holds. But as we look back in hindsight, a lot can happen when enough people decide enough is enough. Women’s Day then should serve as a reminder that change has happened before, and it can again.

If you needed some empowering quotes today to remind you of just how powerful it is to be a woman, you’ve come to the right place:

Here are 9 inspiring quotes that celebrate, and recognise women in our power, together: 

• ‘I stand on the sacrifices of a million women before me thinking what can I do to make this mountain taller so the women after me can see farther’ – Rupi Kaur, Canadian poet

 

• “I think realizing that you’re not alone, that you are standing with millions of your sisters around the world is vital.” – Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist

 

• ‘Women may be the one group that grows more radical with age.’ – Gloria Steinem, American feminist-journalist

 

• “I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and my femininity. And I want to be respected in all of my femaleness because I deserve to be.”
  –Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from her book ‘We Should All Be Feminists’

Here are 9 quotes to remind those who identify as men that the fight against GBV in SA needs them too

• “Sometimes being a good ally is about opening the door for someone instead of insisting that your voice is the only one that matters.”
  – Mikki Kendall in ‘Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot’

 

• “If you’re calling for an end to unrest… but you’re not calling for an end to the conditions that created the unrest, you’re a hypocrite,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, American politician and activist

 

• “I may be a little grayer than I was eight years ago, but this is what a feminist looks like.” – Barack Obama

 

• “It is by standing up for the rights of girls and women that we truly measure up as men.”—Desmond Tutu

 

• “The argument that ‘boys will be boys’ actually carries the profoundly anti-male implication that we should expect bad behavior from boys and men. The assumption is that they are somehow not capable of acting appropriately, or treating girls and women with respect.”-Jackson Katz, American author and social theorist

 

• ‘All men should be feminists.‘If men care about women’s rights the world will be a better place. We are better off when women are empowered – it leads to a better society.’- John Legend, singer/songwriter

 

• “Each and every one of us has the capacity to be an oppressor. I want to encourage each and every one of us to interrogate how we might be an oppressor and how we might be able to become liberators for ourselves and for each other.”-Laverne Cox, American actress and LGBTIQ rights advocate

 

• “We have absolutely no reason to keep smiling, because South African women are dying every day and mostly people are doing nothing about it. It is not up to us, it’s up to perpetrators to start doing right.” – Zozibini Tunzi former Miss SA and Miss Universe

 

• “Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression,” – Nelson Mandela

Here are 9 quotes serving up food for thought on gender equality

• ‘Reproductive sexual difference remains the villain of the piece.’ – Rachel Holmes, biographer of Sylvia Pankhurst

 

• “Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.” – Kofi Annan, Former United Nations General Secretary

 

• “In the face of patriarchy, it is a brave act indeed for both men and women to embrace, rather than shame or attempt to eradicate, the feminine.” — Alanis Morissette, Canadian-American alternative rock singer-songwriter.

 

• “Life is not a competition between men and women. It is a collaboration.”-David Alejandro Fearnhead, journalist

 

• “We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons… but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters,” Gloria Steinem

 

• “Teach her that the idea of ‘gender roles’ is absolute nonsense. Do not ever tell her that she should or should not do something because she is a girl. ‘Because you are a girl’ is never reason for anything. Ever,” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

 

• “Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong…it is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideas.”–Emma Watson, British icon and actress

 

• “The scrutiny on our bodies distracts us from what’s really going on here: control. The emphasis on our appearance distracts us from the real focus: power.”
  –Alok Vaid-Menon in ‘Beyond the Gender Binary’
• “We are proving that we can come together as a united human family to holistically tackle COVID-19, let us apply an equally comprehensive, vigorous, and unrelenting focus to eradicating gender-based violence as well,” Graça Machel, South Africa’s former first lady

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