ZANDILEMAKHOBA: Women don’t have to be hard like a rock to be strong
And they also don’t have to scale the heights of politics or the corporate sector to have an influence on their society
Recently, there has been something of a revolt against the term mbokodo, which means “rock”. On August 9 1956, it was the word more than 20,000 women chose to describe themselves and their resolve for change in South Africa. Much like a rock, they proved to be immovable, making a crucial contribution towards ending the pass laws and contributing to the demise of apartheid.
That there are strong links between politics, policy and economics goes without saying, and it is actions such as those undertaken by the 1956 female protesters that have granted current South African women access to some measure of economic freedom in a country tainted by a history of separation and exclusion. They also laid the foundations for a society that now permits women to pursue a much “softer life”...
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