BY HON. MKHULEKO HLENGWA, MP
INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Honourable Speaker,
The mortar mix that built our democracy and freedom was mixed not with water but with the blood, sweat and tears of women who through their selfless sacrifice sustained the struggle, particularly at the darkest and toughest of times.
We owe our freedom to the thousands of the great sung and unsung heroines of our struggle.
Women delivered us our democracy, and on behalf of the IFP I pay tribute to those giants of our struggle, on whose shoulders we stand on today.
Twenty-three years into that freedom and democracy, the biggest question before us is ‘have we done enough to push back the frontiers of patriarchy, poverty, struggle, abuse, unemployment and inequality which have become a defining feature of the daily life the girl child and women across the country?’
Sadly, we have not!
For every government failure and for every prevailing social ill, it is women who double fold bear this brutal brunt thereof:
• When healthcare collapses women must become medical practitioners and caregivers.
• When policing collapses women become security personnel in the street and at home.
• When education collapses women must become teachers.
The list is endless – as even pay disparities in the work place continue to undermine women in favour of men who at times are under-qualified.
The continued rape and abuse of women which has characterised our social discourse stands as the biggest indictment, alongside poverty and inequality, of our democratic dispensation.
What message do we send to society when advertising continues to objectify women in a sexual manner?
We must begin a process of reviewing advertising standards, norms and content wherein we move away from the sexual objectification of women and rightly celebrate the success of women and encourage the optimization of their potential.
Women are not commercial entities.
Let us now, with a new and genuine commitment move beyond the rhetoric and tokenism and in real terms empower women and push back the frontiers of patriarchy.
Let us get the girl child into school and boldly raise young women of our nation who are not marriage fodder but equal citizens capable and able to make a meaningful contribution to our economy and democracy.
A new commitment where job interviews are respectful and fair, in a boardroom not a bedroom.
A new commitment of men who stand up against women abuse and with conviction declare #NotInMyName.
A new commitment to say we are not free until women are liberated.
#WomenFreedomInOurLifetime, through equality, education, security and economic emancipation.
I thank you.
Contact:
Hon Mkhuleko Hlengwa, MP
IFP Media, Parliament
071 1110539