Let’s tip our hats to women

I was shocked to see a report on the frontpage of a Sunday newspaper telling the unsettling tale of a video showing an elderly Free State woman being assaulted by a man.

Readers of this column will know that I have been a crusader for women’s rights the past six years. I have campaigned for harsh punishments for perpetrators who are found guilty of gender-based violence. And if I don’t add my voice to those who protest to this barbaric behaviour, I will forsake my duty as the conscience of the voiceless.

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I understand that the suspect in this case is a member of the legal fraternity; that he has done great work in the past; that he is working on a controversial case.

This column has nothing to do with any of those subjects. It is all about creating a world where women can be safe, where they – and all other people, for that matter – can truly be equal.

Of course I am not a woman, but that does not mean that I can turn a blind eye to the injustices they often suffer. Obviously they can fight for themselves, but I add my voice to theirs with pride, because they don’t have to fight alone.

The man I am today was created by women. I have a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter-in-law and a daughter, and I want those women to be considered as what they are to me: people who deserve all the respect they can get, because they are real heroes.

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I want my fellow South Africans to tip their hats to women and recognise them as the backbone of our society.

Instead, far too many South Africans have become rapists, abusers, wife beaters. Not all of them, obviously. I am an eternal optimist who believes the large majority of the people in this country are good and try to build the same safe world I dream of.

But I am also a realist. I know we don’t all support the same sports teams – hell, we don’t even support the same sports. We have different religions; we speak different languages. And that is good, because our differences create a more complete country.

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But if there is one thing we dare not differ on, it is the right of women to contribute to our country without the fear that they will be regarded as inferior citizens. Because I respect them. And more importantly, because I respect myself.