Women’s month got off to an unusually feisty start this year, with those dignified #RememberKhwezi protesters reminding everyone how little has changed in relation to rape. This special month is customarily marked by suggestions to "spoil" women and give them a night off cooking dinner.But there is also a perennially significant feature: we look back in admiration at the women who marched to the Union Buildings against the pass laws. That protest would have been regarded at the time as inappropriate and shocking by many of the women’s contemporaries — much like the scandalised reaction to this month’s anti-rape protests at the electoral commission’s concluding function for the municipal elections. Despite the dignity of the 1956 protest, to the establishment of the day it was outrageous.But it is also true that women of our era have other issues to worry about. Yes, we honour the women of that great protest, but they inspire us to deal with our own problems, the rocks across our pat...
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