Deputy Speaker, August is the most exhausting month to the psyche of a woman living in South Africa! This is the month when the nation pretends to care about issues affecting women. We are flooded with messages of nonviolence against women, hectic advertising and role-playing - just for this month!
We are all conscious of what role women played in our history and in our daily lives. I am sure I speak for many women when I say that what women want is not special days here and there; fake recognition and applause in certain months; or sympathies from male counterparts. What women want is to be treated with dignity like everybody else. We want to be safe in our own homes. We want to own our bodies and not to be violated on an hourly basis.
You see, we play the primary role in bringing about human life. We want to know it is safe to continue to give birth to new offspring. We want our little girls in pink to play in the streets carefree, knowing they are safe from their brothers, fathers, neighbours and strangers.
Women want to know that they don't need to double their work efforts just to get the same recognition as men. Women want men to recognise that patriarchy doesn't just hurt women; it hurts men as well. It does not serve any of us. The women and children that get raped daily have brothers, lovers, husbands and fathers who hurt so much over such violations. They end up feeling that they failed their own by not protecting them.
Women don't want men ululating lovely messages on special days. Women want men who will stand for what is right. Women want men to treat them as equal counterparts and to value their contribution at home, in school and at work. Women want men who will not wait for the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill to do what is right. Women want people to understand that it is not a favour to be a woman; it is a God-given right. We have got the right to live. We have got the right to do whatever we want to do. It is not a favour! [Applause.]
Bagaetsho, ga re le bomme re le rotlhe, re seka ra leka go ipharologanya. Re seka ra letla gore mebala ya rona e se re dire bomme. (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)
[As women we should never try to differentiate ourselves from each other. We should not let our skin colours convert us into monsters.]
We are all women, irrespective of colour; irrespective of where you are from; and irrespective of the comforts you have. You are a woman. You have to feel that that very poor woman is just the same as you. She needs what you have. You have to support her. You have to show that by doing whatever other women ask you to do. People, we are God-given people. [Interjections.]
A re rataneng re le basadi; re tlotlaneng. [Let us love and respect each other as women.]
Let's start respecting ourselves. [Applause.] Let's start showing people that we live. [Applause.] Let's start saying that this is the time when we have the right to be women. [Applause.]